Evolving visions of Japan: Tracing the transmission of knowledge and material culture between the national and the provincial in Britain (1860-1920)

学者们对维多利亚与阿尔卑斯博物馆的日本藏品(Earle，1986；Irvine 2009,2015)、塑造19世纪末东西方关系的实物和文化收藏机构(Guth 2004，Cheang，2008)、二战后维多利亚与阿尔卑斯博物馆的流通部(Wedell，2016)以及日本在东北工业地区的重要存在(Conte-Helm，1989)进行了仔细的研究。然而，到目前为止，日本文物在首都以外的材料代理机构和维多利亚与阿尔卑斯管理局在调解这一问题上的作用在很大程度上被忽视了。在自我强加的孤立之后，日本限制出口的政策导致了基于相对现代的文物的收藏和知识。这将19世纪60年代英国对日本的展示定义为视觉上的，而不是历史主义的，从而体现了南肯辛顿博物馆的创建目标，即“在优雅的形式安排和和谐的色彩安排中实际应用设计原则”。这项研究将考虑公开和私人安排的日本材料陈列的性质的变化，因为人们新的关注“标本作为一种教育或教育工具的价值……在很大程度上取决于其陈列的完美性。”(Ruschenberger，1876)。借鉴跨文化的思想，它将分析日本材料作为一种新的抽象美学以及对当代的解释，以便通过在1860年至1920年西方博物馆背景下的创造性部署来绘制其机构性质的变化。这项研究将把南肯辛顿现有做法和战略的制度化视为博物馆的创新，其中许多做法和战略在《流通藏品》中进行了总结。通过对两个关键藏品的比较分析，它将绘制出日本材料的轨迹和转移，从1860年的维多利亚与阿尔伯特博物馆到20世纪头20年纽卡斯尔的莱恩美术馆的公私交流和机构间交流的时间点。纽卡斯尔是最早收到南肯辛顿博物馆流通藏品的城市之一，分别于1856年和1857年。在此背景下，该博物馆的创建目标--为“制造商、工匠和普通公众的利益”--采取了工业艺术分类展示的形式，其中，日本展出了四种：瓷器、日本或漆器、篮子和杂物。基于工业专业知识，像纽卡斯尔这样的城市在国家层面上与日本建立了直接的关系，产生了产品和人员的交流，并为日本创造了当地的吸引力。通过实物传播V&A的目标，循环倡议的第二个目标是鼓励成立艺术博物馆。在莱恩博物馆，用当地的私人贷款来补充陈列的条件特别合适，它于1904年开业，没有创始藏品。维多利亚与阿尔卑斯博物馆将工业设计项目借给了莱恩博物馆的首届展览，此后莱恩博物馆成为纽卡斯尔的巡回展览场地，其材料几乎总是从这个计划和莱恩策划的展览中借来的。因此，借出和赠送日本材料是莱恩博物馆成立以来讨论和展示的一个重要特点。研究将主要基于但不限于，维多利亚与阿尔伯特博物馆的日本藏品，以及纽卡斯尔莱恩美术馆未被研究的日本藏品。该项目将利用V&A的藏品(亚洲部)、档案馆(流通、借阅和采购记录)、国家艺术图书馆(展览和拍卖目录)、莱恩和其他收藏和档案。

Scholars have produced careful research around the V&A's Japanese collection (Earle, 1986; Irvine 2009, 2015), the material agency of objects and cultures of collecting that shaped late nineteenth century East-West relations (Guth 2004, Cheang, 2008), the V&A's Circulation Department post war (Weddell, 2016) and the significant presence of Japan in the industrial North-East (Conte-Helm, 1989). However, to date the material agency of Japanese artefacts outside the capital and the V&A's role in mediating this has been largely overlooked.Following self-imposed isolation, Japanese policies limiting export led to collections and knowledge based on relatively modern objects. This defined British displays of Japan during the 1860s as visual, rather than historicist, thus embodying the founding aim of the South Kensington Museum through 'the practical application of the principles of design in the graceful arrangement of forms and the harmonious arrangement of colours'. This study will consider the changing nature of public and privately arranged displays of Japanese material in light of new attention to "The value of a specimen as an instructive or educational implement...depend[ing] very much on the perfection of its display." (Ruschenberger, 1876). Drawing on ideas of transculturation, it will analyse Japanese material as a new, abstract aesthetic alongside interpretation contemporary to the time, in order to chart the changing nature of its agency through creative deployment in a Western Museum context, 1860-1920. This study will consider the institutionalising of practices and strategies in place at South Kensington, many of which are summarised in the Circulating Collections, as innovations of the Museum. Through a comparative analysis of two key collections it will chart the trajectory and transfer of Japanese material, from 1860 at the V&A to the point at which private-public and inter-institutional exchange coincide at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Newcastle was among the cities first receiving the South Kensington Museum's Circulating Collections, in 1856 and 1857 respectively. In this context, the founding aim of the Museum - for the 'benefit of manufacturers, artisans and the public in general' - took the form of classified displays of industrial art, of which, Japan featured in four: porcelain, japanned or lacquered work, basket work and miscellanea. Based on industrial expertise, cities like Newcastle formed direct relationships with Japan at a national level, generating an exchange of product and personnel and creating a local fascination for Japan. Disseminating the aims of the V&A through the physical object, the second objective of the Circulating initiative was to encourage the formation of art museums. The condition of supplementing displays with private local loans was particularly apposite at the Laing, which opened in 1904 without a founding collection. The V&A lent items of industrial design to the Laing's inaugural exhibition, after which time the Laing became Newcastle's tour venue for the V&A's circulation, with material almost always on loan from this scheme and to Laing-curated exhibitions. As such, loans and gifts of Japanese material were a significant feature of discussions and displays from the Laing's inception. Research will be based primarily on, but not limited to, the Japanese collections at the V&A, and the unstudied Japanese collection at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle. The project will draw on the V&A's collection (Asia Department), Archive (Circulation, loan and acquisition records), National Art Library (exhibition and auction catalogues), the Laing's, and other collections and archives.