Bottom-up Nationality: The Development of Contemporary Japanese Art

This study employs a range of research methods, including cross-cultural comparative analysis and an in-depth examination of art historical developments, to explore the distinctive features of modern and contemporary Japanese art from multiple perspectives, such as history and reality, ethnicity and state, art and culture, as well as institutional structures and mechanisms. It argues that the evolution of Japanese art in the modern and contemporary periods offers valuable insights and lessons for artistic development, both in China and globally, particularly in how artists independently and consciously pursued a sense of nationality within their creative and theoretical practices. Through detailed analysis and comparison of the interpretation, representation, and pursuit of nationality and its artistic value—with a special focus on presenting original perspectives on the influential Mono-ha movement that emerged in postwar Japan—this paper emphasizes the fundamental unity between the national character of art and its universal human significance.