Kingdom of Beauty

Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan

Kim Brandt

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English

Duke University Press
20 July 2007

Folk art

Series: Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society

A Study of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

Kingdom of Beauty shows that the discovery of mingei (folk art) by Japanese intellectuals in the 1920s and 1930s was central to the complex process by which Japan became both a modern nation and an imperial world power. Kim Brandt's account of the mingei movement locates its origins in colonial Korea, where middle-class Japanese artists and collectors discovered that imperialism offered them special opportunities to amass art objects and gain social, cultural, and even political influence. Later, mingei enthusiasts worked with (and against) other groups-such as state officials, fascist ideologues, rival folk art organizations, local artisans, newspaper and magazine editors, and department store managers-to promote their own vision of beautiful prosperity for Japan, Asia, and indeed the world. In tracing the history of mingei activism, Brandt considers not only Yanagi Muneyoshi, Hamada Shoji, Kawai Kanjiro, and other well-known leaders of the folk art movement but also the often overlooked networks of provincial intellectuals, craftspeople, marketers, and shoppers who were just as important to its success. The result of their collective efforts, she makes clear, was the transformation of a once-obscure category of pre-industrial rural artifacts into an icon of modern national style.

By: Kim Brandt
Imprint: Duke University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 445g
ISBN: 9780822340003
ISBN 10: 0822340003
Series: Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 20 July 2007
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Kim Brandt is Associate Professor of Japanese history at Columbia University.

Reviews for Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan

A richly textured, beautifully written, and provocatively argued analysis of the Japanese folk-craft movement, this study sheds light on empire, middle-class material culture, the aesthetics of fascism, and much else common to twentieth-century societies in the throes of dislocating change. A beguiling book on important themes. --Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of History, Columbia University Kingdom of Beauty is first-rate. Kim Brandt's analysis is sharp, her organization supple, her writing graceful. Moreover, her synthesis of the imperial with the domestic--and of the ideological with the material--makes the book a model of cultural history. --Karen Wigen, author of The Making of a Japanese Periphery, 1750-1920 In tracing the history of mingei activism, Brandt considers not only the well-known leaders of the folk-art movement, but also the networks involved in its success. ASIAN ART December 2007