In their ambition to capture “real life,” Japanese painters, poets, novelists and photographers of the nineteenth century collaborated in ways seldom explored by their European contemporaries. This course offers learners the chance to encounter and appreciate behavior, moral standards and some of the material conditions surrounding Japanese artists in the nineteenth century, in order to renew our assumptions about what artistic “realism” is and what it meant.
Offered By
Words Spun Out of Images: Visual and Literary Culture in Nineteenth Century Japan
The University of TokyoAbout this Course
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Learner Career Outcomes
20%
started a new career after completing these courses
33%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
25%
got a pay increase or promotion
Flexible deadlines
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Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Beginner Level
Approx. 30 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: French, Portuguese (European), Russian, English, Spanish
Skills you will gain
Art HistoryPoetry WritingArtHistory
Learner Career Outcomes
20%
started a new career after completing these courses
33%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
25%
got a pay increase or promotion
Flexible deadlines
Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Beginner Level
Approx. 30 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: French, Portuguese (European), Russian, English, Spanish
Offered by
The University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. As a leading research university, UTokyo offers courses in essentially all academic disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels and conducts research across the full spectrum of academic activity.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
8 hours to complete
Samurai Portraits
One good way to gauge the distance between literary and visual culture in early modern Japan is to examine the ways in which painters and poets depicted their contemporaries. Portraits of samurai are especially rich in information about how men at the top of the social ladder wished to be “viewed” as physical entities, and how they expressed themselves as moral actors within society. In the first module, we will learn the basic formal aspects of samurai portraiture, and at the same time begin to interpret poems and prose inscribed onto the images themselves.
8 hours to complete
12 videos (Total 102 min), 1 reading, 13 quizzes
9 hours to complete
Painted Beauties
Visual images of women produced in Japan before the introduction of photography can be divided into two types: portraits of women who actually existed in society, and painted or printed images of idealized “beauties,” whose resemblance to physical reality was subsumed often to an intense interest in mode and situational aspect. Like samurai portraits, images of women, both real and imagined, would often be inscribed with texts which instruct viewers how to understand and appreciate them. In this module, we will overview several painted and printed images, and learn how contemporary viewers used these images and their texts as a tool to understand the world.
9 hours to complete
14 videos (Total 105 min)
6 hours to complete
The Literary Photograph I
What methods did early modern Japanese artists and writers have at hand to “capture the moment,” and how did these methods influence the introduction and adaption of western photography in the mid-nineteenth century? In this module we will see how photographic modes of representation were assimilated into the literary tradition of portraiture, which was covered in modules 1 and 2.
6 hours to complete
8 videos (Total 75 min)
6 hours to complete
The Literary Photograph II
Our final module traces the trajectory of the literary photograph from the end of the long nineteenth century into Japan’s modern era. Photographic images of the human figure in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Japan were often accompanied by literary writing inscribed either on the image itself, or on its reverse side. Modern novelists sometimes published photographs with short poems as captions. We will wrap up our course with a summary of how visual and written modes of representation colluded, and combined to produce powerful documents of social and psychological actuality.
6 hours to complete
9 videos (Total 78 min)
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM WORDS SPUN OUT OF IMAGES: VISUAL AND LITERARY CULTURE IN NINETEENTH CENTURY JAPAN
by MKMay 2, 2021
Robert Cambell is clearly knowledgeable and very motivated to share his knowledge to others. Sometimes he deviates from his main topic and that makes it difficult to keep track of his main point.
by DPOct 8, 2020
Very interesting where I finished the whole course 2 weeks before the due date because I really enjoyed it. I have been a Japan fanatic since middle school so this course is really my cup of tea
by YMNov 30, 2020
It was really fun to learn about the history of such art pieces as well as the notable people behind its creation and influence. Mr. Campbell discussed everything clearly as expected.
by SCSep 5, 2019
It has expanded my views not only on Japan Visual and Literary Culture but also has open for me a new way of looking at portraits in different cultures and times. Thank you so much
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