Beauties, Ghosts, and Samurai. The Japanese Pop Culture Tradition From Edo Ukiyo-e to Manga, Anime, and Sūpā Furatto in the 20th and 21st Centuries

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This catalogue accompanies the exhibition Beauties, Ghosts, and Samurai. The Japanese Pop Culture Tradition From Edo Ukiyo-e to Manga, Anime, and Sūpā Furatto in the 20th and 21st Centuries, displayed in 2024 at the LNMA National Gallery of Art. This is one of the few attempts (and the first one in Lithuania) to exhibit the interconnections of the materials that are rarely, if ever, displayed together in a museum space: ukiyo-e prints, historical giga caricatures, erotic shunga booklets, commercial hikifuda posters, pre-war and post-war manga comics, cards from children’s menko games, posters of anime films and computer games, advertising video clips of the famous cosmetics company Shiseido, an animated historical kabuki theatre curtain, excerpts from renowned anime films, and works by Japanese contemporary artists (including representatives of the sūpā furatto movement) in painting, graphics, photography, animation, and sculpture that reflect, sometimes ironise and question these materials.

 

The exhibition showcases the works of over 70 artists, grouped into three categories – images of beauties (bijin), scary or funny stories of phantoms (yōkai), and the heroic deeds of samurai (bushi, samurai). The exhibition curator and catalogue editor Dr Arūnas Gelūnas delves into the history of Japanese popular culture and provides readers with intriguing answers as to the significance of discussing Japanese popular culture in Lithuania. Jurgita Ignotienė explores what led to the popularity of this culture in Lithuania. The conversation between the curator and the exhibition’s chief consultant Prof. Tetsuya Ozaki highlights the specifics of Japanese art reception in the West and Japan. Dr Raphael Koenig introduces the creative labyrinth of contemporary artist Yuichiro Ukai, while the exhibition architects compare the scenography with public space. The catalogue includes a comprehensive timeline and an illustrated typology of phantoms, facilitating the navigation of the Japanese pop culture chronology.

 

Editor Dr Arūnas Gelūnas

Text authors: Dr Arūnas Gelūnas, Jurgita Ignotienė, Dr Raphael Koenig, Dr Tetsuya Ozaki, Petras Išora-Lozuraitis, Ona Lozuraitytė-Išorė

Graphic designer Laura Grigaliūnaitė

Book designer Edita Namajūnienė

Proofreading by Dr Ilona Čiužauskaitė

Translated by Emilija Ferdmanaitė

Coordinator Dr Ieva Mazūraitė-Novickienė

Photographers: Vaidotas Aukštaitis, Gintarė Grigėnaitė, Andrej Vasilenko

Published by the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, 2024

Printed by UAB Petro ofsetas

500 copies

240 pages

17×24 cm 

 

 

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