M.A. - Art History

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/20024

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Troubling Tōshun and honoring the orphan painting: The Tōshun-attributed eight views of Xiao and Xiang in the Masaki collection
(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2025) Ford, Dorothy; Szostak, John; Art History
When scholars observe the Tōshun-attributed Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang in the Masaki collection, they generally invoke the artist and his lineage to contextualize its unusual interpretation of splashed ink (發墨) and the Yùjiàn mode (玉澗様). This thesis suggests that the Tōshun attribution may do more harm than good when scholars try to understand this work. Paintings become more visible, not less so, when freed from dubious attributions, and premodern texts are richer and more colorful when historians do not make unfair demands of them. This study revisits the historical evidence for the biography and attributions of San’eki Tōshun (三益等春 ca. 1468-1520). All of the painting attributions ultimately depend on seals, and this thesis questions their persuasive power. Scholars have also drawn upon Tōshun lore to contextualize the paintings that bear the Tōshun seal. This study investigates both the significance and signification of the ‘discursive’ Tōshun as a construct of early-modern texts, with particular emphasis on the Tōhaku Gasetsu (等伯画説 1592). In the Gasetsu, Tōshun’s character is used to illustrate key ideas about painterly lineage, transmission of brush-method, discipleship, and copying. In order to understand how these topics are treated in the Gasetsu, one must understand what Tōshun signifies. Through close-readings of Tōshun-related entries, this study raises the possibility that Tōshun was never a part of Hasegawa Tōhaku’s (長谷川等伯, 1539-1610) “fifth-generation Sesshū” claim, and questions whether the Gasetsu truly contains Japan’s first painterly lineage charts, pointing to ‘anti-lineal’ themes in the Gasetsu and its Muromachi precedents. Furthermore, it urges greater sensitivity to Nittsū’s (日通上人 1551-1608) voice in this dialogic text. Finally, this thesis tries to reconstruct the biography of this Eight Views set, proposing that the visual style does not bear the hallmarks of a Daitokuji priest or a Sesshū disciple. Instead, its brushwork, spatial construction, composition, and ink tonality seem to demonstrate the “second-hand modality” of painters like Sesson (雪村周継, 1492-1577), who were distant from both Kyoto and Sesshū.
Current Events and the Satsuma Rebellion: Japanese Woodblock Prints of the Edo and Early Meiji Periods (1603–1877)
(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2024) Ambo, Olivia; Szostak, John D.; Art History
In the transition from Japan’s Edo period (1603–1868) to Meiji period (1868–1912), woodblock prints went from being legally barred from depicting current events to explicitly illustrating contemporary conflicts. While often overlooked in Western scholarship, the popular prints of the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 are a significant reflection of the medium’s expanding subject matter and growing political engagement. However, it is simplistic to view traditional Edo prints as totally apolitical or modern Meiji prints as always accurate depictions of reality. By examining changes in Japanese print censorship and depictions of current events in works by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892) from the Edo period to the Satsuma Rebellion, we see how prints of both times were engaged with current events while considering traditional themes and entertainment value. As Satsuma Rebellion prints are a neglected topic in Meiji print and war print history, this thesis also gives an overview of their popularity, publication, and subjects.
Past to Present: Performance Art by Shimada Yoshiko and Ito Tari, on Imperial Military Sexual Violence
(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2024) Yonebayashi, Koharu; Hamilton Faris, Jaimey; Art History
This thesis explores how two contemporary Japanese feminist artist-activists, Tari Ito and Yoshiko Shimada, use performance art as a tool to address their identities intersected with issues of Japanese imperial and colonial violence, especially regarding the history of militarized sexual slavery systems that the Japanese Imperial Army implemented on occupied territories before and during WWII. Although their styles and representational strategies differ, both artists position their own bodies in this dialogue, urging viewers to re-remember history in ways that allow the artists themselves and audiences to recognize that these histories are being lived out and repeated in contemporary society. Through this thesis, I discuss the artists’ performance pieces related to these issues in order to explore three central questions: How is performance art a critical methodological tool for creating dialogue with audiences that shift feelings of apathy into empathy around colonial violence? How do Shimada and Ito ethically position themselves in relation to the sensitive subjects of comfort women and their lived traumas? What are the obstacles Japanese women artists face and have historically faced in representing transnational issues in their work, particularly when focusing on the history of comfort women? I argue that through performance art, the artists and their audiences practice witnessing – being present to the ongoing traumas of comfort women and the perpetuation of military sexual violence.
Carving Kingship: Political and Religious Identity in Nāyaka Art
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) George, Marina; Lavy, Paul A.; Art History
"Carving Kingship: Political and Religious Identity in Nāyaka Art" is an inquiry into notions of kingship and the visual associations made by Nāyaka dynasties in Tamil Nadu, India nearly a century after the downfall of the Vijayanagara Empire, in order to identify their priorities, and recognize patterns of intent in their art.
Hand fans of Micronesia
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1986) Le Geyt, Linda M.; Asian and Pacific Art History
This study concerns itself with the visual exploration of one type of artifact in Micronesia, the fiber fan, as an expression and reflection of the aesthetic traditions and cultural preferences over time and among divers societies within Micronesia. It wi
The Masks Of Kyōgen: A Study Of Morphology, Taxonomy, And Personae
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2021) Marvin, Stephen E.; Szostak, John; Art History
ABSTRACT Kyōgen is the oldest continuously performed comedy in the world and introduced masking to performances more than a century earlier than the commedia dell’arte of Italy. The masks in use today remain essentially unchanged from at least the 17th century. My thesis explores the origins, evolution, conformations, and personae of Kyōgen masks. Existing scholarship focuses on mask usage in Honkyōgen, the genre of independent comedy performance, but masked Kyōgen actors also enact important roles in Sarugaku-Nō plays and the sacred ritual of Shikisanban. Knowledge of the roles represented by Kyōgen masks in these two branches of Nōgaku is vital to understanding the development of important mask types and properly interpreting their personae. Given the dearth of historical documentation of Kyōgen masks and the paucity of modern research, my thesis draws heavily on formal analysis of Kyōgen masks made prior to the Meiji period. For this purpose, I present photographs of nearly 400 different masks, the largest and most comprehensive archive, by far, ever published.
The Soft Power of Rimpa: Tracing a Fluid Creative Practice Across Space and Time
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2021) Enomoto, Erika; Szostak, John; Art History
This expository thesis builds on current knowledge of the 17th century Japanese painting school known as Rimpa. Revisiting its multifaceted history leading up to 2015, there are three pivotal moments in its 400-year-old history that shape our understanding of Rimpa as a cultural soft power. Additionally, I highlight celebratory events in 2015 as continued efforts of the repeated cooption of Rimpa’s soft power to influence public perception and inform local identity. I posit that the longevity and relevancy of Rimpa, as a creative practice, is attributed to its fluid qualities that afford it longevity, relevancy, and the ability to be repeatedly reconfigured and adapted to the visual language and concerns of the zeitgeist.
Sound, Embodiment and Displacement: Listening to Borders in the Art of Samson Young
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020) Twadelle, Taylor; Hamilton Faris, Jaimey; Art History
Borders today are commonly perceived as sites of tension and conflict. Whether conceptualized as territorial borders that purport to physically separate nations or social, political and cultural borders that ideologically split individuals, the idea of a border as impenetrable and divisive boundary obscures what can pass through. Sound, as a force capable of moving through objects and individuals, demonstrates that borders are in fact permeable, especially to that which is invisible to the eye. This paper seeks to offer an alternative conceptualization of the border through a sound-based methodology, drawing on the works of sound studies scholars like Brandon LaBelle (Sonic Agency, 2019) and writing on modernity and the self such as Steven Connor’s “The Modern Auditory I” (1997). By examining three works by the Hong Kong-based multimedia artist Samson Young — Liquid Borders (2012-2014), For Whom the Bell Tolls (2015), and Nocturne (2015) — which combine sound and visual imagery, I suggest that Young’s use of sound and image in these works allows a unique experience of embodied displacement that both grounds the audience in their own embodied subjectivity while simultaneously displacing them in order to imagine the experiences of others. Ultimately, through an analysis of Young’s works focusing on national borders, I hope to demonstrate how sound can not only disrupt common conceptualizations of borders but also present an alternative framework for understanding and being in the world that, when paired with vision, can offer an embodied method of capturing the experience of subjectivity as being both a part of and apart from the world.
Ki‘i Lā‘au in Transit and Transition: A Diachronic Analysis of Meaning in Four Pacific Objects
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2018-05) Parker, Nathan D.; Art History
Re-Presenting Micronesia in Long Beach: Memories of a Tourist Collection
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2018-05) Flores, Ashley I.; Art History
This thesis explores the biography of 18 objects created on the island of Yap in the 1990s at the Ethnic Art Institute of Micronesia (EAIM), an open workshop space in which Micronesians were employed to make objects for sale to tourists. The institute employed the local Micronesian community, mostly men from the main island, to recreate cultural objects recorded in the Ergebnisse der Südsee-Expedition 1908-1910 journals. Eighteen of the types of objects produced by EAIM are featured on display at the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum (PIEAM) located in Long Beach, California, and have been since it opened in October 2010. PIEAM has a wider focus on the arts of the Pacific, including Polynesia and Melanesia, but clearly emphasizes Micronesia and the objects made at the EAIM. Both the museum and EAIM were projects spearheaded by Dr. Gumbiner. This thesis explores how the cultural objects, which are produced at the EAIM and displayed at the PIEAM in Long Beach, California, can be seen as representing and perpetuating a postcolonial situation.
Fragments and Empire: Cambodian Art from the Angkor Period
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2017-05) Remington, Kristin M. Y.; Art History
The John Young collection of Khmer art, once owned by John Chin Young (1909-1997), is divided today between two museums, the John Young Museum of Art (JYMA) on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus and the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA, formerly the HMA or HAA) in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Both museum collections contain several of Young’s Angkor period artworks that have yet to be the subject of thorough art historical research. Five sandstone reliefs in JYMA and two reliefs from HoMA collection provide a valuable opportunity to engage with the Angkor period regarding both stylistic developments and shifts in Angkor’s political power. This thesis examines the sandstone reliefs from the John Young collection and the significant questions they pose when considering the distribution of Khmer artistic traditions outside of the Angkorian capital and into territorial margins, specifically, northeastern Thailand. My research is the first comprehensive art historical study of the John Young collection of Khmer art. This thesis includes a secondary exhibition component. In addition to the written thesis, I curated the exhibition, Fragments & Empire: Cambodian Art from the Angkor Period, which opened at the John Young Museum of Art on March 6, 2016 and closed on May 6, 2016. Fragments & Empire exhibited all the Khmer artwork from JYMA’s collection and incorporated ten digital loans of Khmer art from HoMA in a single exhibition space.
The Parinirvāna Cycle and the Theory of Multivalence: A Study of Ganghāran Buddhist Narrative Reliefs
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2017-05) Hebert, Emily C.; Art History
From Jokun to Onnagata: Performance, Aesthetics, and the Cultivation of Femininity during the Edo Period
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2017-05) D'Almeida, Monique A.; Art History
As the portrayal of women in Japanese woodblock prints produced during Japan’s Edo period (1603–1868) remains an understudied area, the objective of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the idealized female image. My research investigates how the idealized female image was established, cultivated, and circulated during the latter half of the Edo period. Throughout this thesis, focus will be given to the feminine idealized image, specifically the prescriptive ideals found in bijin-ga (prints of beautiful women) and the descriptive ideals expressed in yakusha-e (actor prints) of onnagata, male actors who portray female roles in Kabuki theater. Utilization of primary sources in the shape of prints and literature along with theories on gender performativity identifies how artists portrayed the feminine ideal. By conceptualizing bijin-ga and yakusha-e prints within its sociocultural context, there is evidence to suggest that Edo period woodblock prints contributed to the construction and circulation of idealized female imagery.
Gazing Upon the Other: The Politics of Representing the Igorot in Philippine Modernism
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2017-05) Baicy, Caroline R. T.; Art History
Philippine modernism and the artwork of Victorio Edades, Galo Ocampo, and Carlos Francisco, known collectively as the Triumvirate of Philippine modernism, are often discussed in terms of formal artistic aspects. The formalist analysis of modernist paintings does not consider the contributions of American colonialism and collaborating elites to the symbolic politics of Philippine painting during the 1920s and 1930s. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the polyvalent nature of the gaze in the paintings of the Triumvirate of modern Philippine art in relation to the image of the ethnic, Philippine “Other,” also known as the Igorot. Emphasised in this thesis are the development and use of American colonial racial formations that allowed Philippine cultural and political elites to deploy the discourse of “Othering” to refine, perform, and perpetuate the presumed characteristics of civilisation associated with Hispanic-Catholic Philippine culture.
Power, Ecstasy, and Enlightenment: The Role of the Bale Kambang in 17th Century Balinese Kingship
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015) Pham, Daniel M.D.
Our current understanding of Balinese political mechanisms during the pre-colonial period is imbalanced. Most recent studies either emphasize the performative ritual aspects of Balinese courts or the genealogical texts to reconstruct the social, political and religious environment of pre-colonial Bali. While both methods have provided valuable insight into Balinese statecraft, scholars employing these methods often downplay the role of art historical evidence. My research is the first comprehensive art historical case study of the Bale Kambang at Puri Semarapura. This work examines the meaning and significance of the Bale Kambang, both art and architecture, to posit the function of the site within its historical context. By placing the Bale Kambang within this historical and cultural milieu, there is convincing evidence to suggest that the Bale Kambang was significant for royal attainment of spiritual power and essential to the maintenance of a king’s realm.
Remembering Mono-Ha: The Reconstruction of Encounters
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011) Jack, James
This thesis presents multiple perspectives on the Japanese Postwar art movement Mono-ha. These artworks engaged in international discourse relying on new associations with the common Japanese word mono (things) in the period from 1967 to 1973. The aim of this thesis is to diversify perspectives on Mono-ha, drawing upon primary texts, original interviews and photographic archives to develop accounts of events and their meanings. Throughout this thesis, emphasis will be placed not only on things but also on the Encounter, historically important to the movement. Conventionally this refers to the "encounter" of the viewer with a thing, the space the meeting takes place, and the philosophy that formed the structure of the movement. The concept of an "extended encounter" facilitated by photographs will point toward the positioning of photographers in debates on mono as part of a framework that offers a method for understanding Monoha artworks in multiple presents.
Cosmopolitanism: The New Generation of Contemporary Artists in Papua Guinea
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012-05) Cadora, Marion; Waite, Deborah; Art History
Esteemed Link: An Argument for Xue Susu as Literati
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011-05) Hoffman, Cordes McMahan; Lingley, Kate; Art History
The Making of Unofficial Space: 1989 and the Definition of a Chinese Vanguard
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2009-08) Liu, Gary; Lingley, Kate; Art History
Status of the Materials Used in Suzhou Gardens in the Late Ming Dynasty
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2006-08) Lee, Wunsze Sylvia; Lingley, Kate; Art History

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