Still Life Spectacle
［President's Specially Appointed Professor, Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences］
Akihiro Ozaki
Course period: September 17 (Wed) - November 18 (Tue)
Registration opens: June 11 (Wed)
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The term “still life” in this course has a broad meaning that transcends the boundaries of the genre created in the modern era. We consider anything depicted decoratively, whether people or objects, to be “still life.” From this perspective, we will explore together how fascinating the worlds of Rembrandt and Vermeer are.
In Week 1, “Finding God in the Small Things,” we will see that the birth of “still life” painting, which focuses on objects, was not only due to a growing secular tendency, but also arose in the arena where the conflicting vectors of the sacred and the profane were at work. What kind of drama unfolded there?
In Week 2, “Aesthetic Technology,” we will look at the new era of artistic production, which is also relevant to still life painting, mainly in Rembrandt's copperplate engravings, where multiple images are drawn on a single plate as if they were sketches. We will explore who Rembrandt was, a painter and engraver who opened up a new field, making engravings as attractive as paintings, and showing a new side of himself.
In Week 3, “The Aesthetics of Black,” we will contemplate Rembrandt and ‘Asia’ while viewing the delicate world woven in monochrome in Rembrandt's prints. We will reveal that the black background in Rembrandt's works is not simply monochrome because they are prints, but rather reflects the idea of “melancholy” that has been a hidden current in Europe since ancient Greece.
In Week 4, “The White Radiance of Ceramics,” we will focus on the “white” that appears in Vermeer's works to examine the new sensibility he expressed in the 17th century, an era of globalization. We will see how Vermeer's art, expressed through white, was a product of the encounter between Europe and Asia, and also heralded the dawn of a new art form.
*This course content is identical to the first session held in October 2024, with some assignments modified.
※This video is played in Japanese.
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