Politics of Painting

Asato Ikeda

This rich and nuanced study examines a set of paintings produced in Japan during the 1930s and early 1940s that have received little scholarly attention. Asato Ikeda views the work of four prominent artists of the time - Yokoyama Taikan, Yasuda Yukihiko, Uemura Shoen, and Fujita Tsuguharu - through the lens of fascism, showing how their seemingly straightforward paintings of Mount Fuji, samurai, beautiful women, and the countryside supported the war by reinforcing a state ideology that justified violence in the name of the country's cultural authenticity. She highlights the politics of "apolitical" art and challenges the postwar labeling of battle paintings - those depicting scenes of war and combat - as uniquely problematic. Although these artists employed different styles and favored different subjects, each maintained close ties with the state and presented what he considered to be...