At 3 p.m. on March 3, Atsuko UKAI, who is a junior member of the GHC, gave a presentation titled “How Can We Describe the World/Global Art History?: The Circulation of Paper/Leather Crafts” in rm. 103 of the Art and Archaeology Department at Princeton University. Perhaps thanks to the email announcement just prior to the presentation, the presentation was attended by more than 20 individuals who quickly filled up the seats in the scheduled seminar room, leaving some audience members only room to stand. The 20-minute presentation was followed by a Q&A session facilitated by Prof. DaCosta Kauffman of the Department of Art and Archaeology. In brief, in her presentation, Ukai started by questioning the fact that art history up to this point has been described on the time axis from the past to the present based on nation-states and imaginary geographic boundaries and proposed describing changes in art in terms of the desire to and act of kazaru [decorate] in a manner that transcends regional and temporal boundaries. Specifically, based on bound books discovered in France, she introduced case studies on gold-embossed leather that was imported into Japan starting in the 17th century and kinkara-kami [gold-embossed paper] manufactured in Japan in the 19th century as examples of the act of decorating. These case studies, which include the issues of industrialization, practical beauty of book bindings, and the global circulation of scholarly knowledge and lead to a re-examination of the concept of “modern,” are effective attempts to achieve the ultimate goal of “describing the history of art from around the world as an integrated whole.”          

Questions were fielded from the audience regarding the manufacturing process and historical development of gold-embossed paper as well as the usefulness of re-examining frameworks for study.   

In addition to this presentation, Ukai engaged primarily in the following three activities during her nearly one-month stay.

(1) Participation in a meeting of the College Art Association held in New York together with her host, Prof. DaCosta Kaufman. A unique feature of this meeting is that it brings together researchers, educators, and practitioners (i.e. artists) involved in the arts. The session dedicated to discussion of exclusively art exhibits by country at World Fairs titled “At the Expositions: An Art History of National Displays of Culture, Technology, and Design” made one reflect on art exhibits divided by country and nationalism. The seminar titled “How Should We Train the Next Generation of Art Critics?” whose purpose was to provide instruction on filling out applications for grants-in-aid related to the arts was also unique. There was also a presentation titled “What Have You Done for Art History Lately?” introducing software that allows instructors in classrooms to download the most recent images of artwork. The meeting was very fruitful and provided an opportunity to think about “art” from both educational and research standpoints, which yielded various new insights for participants including a teacher of art.

(2) Research in the many libraries on the Princeton campus. By registering her Tigercard (the tiger is the Princeton University mascot, the Tigercard is a photo ID issued by the Tigercard office) at the library, Ukai was able to browse all books and to check out a part of the books from the various libraries on campus. In the Department of East Asian Studies, there was a Japanese librarian. Ukai was given a carrel in the MARQUAND library in the Department of Art and Archaeology where she was being hosted, which proved to be a great environment for concentrating on research. The research she conducted using historical documents on art deco at the end of the 19th century and monographs on Japanese paper held in the Special Graphic Arts Collection located in the main Firestone library was very useful.  

(3) Interaction with faculty members as well as students in the department of History, department of East Asian Studies, and the department of Art and Archaeology. In particular, Ukai had the opportunity to meet Prof. Esther da Costa Meyer, a specialist in French art history, and Mr. Serge Gruzinski, a member of both EHESS and CNRS specializing in South American art, who provided various advice on research both of whom should prove to be valuable connections in the future. In this respect, she was able to contribute to the creation of a foundation for the GHC project. In addition, as was pointed out by members of the Princeton faculty, there have been few opportunities in the past for researchers in different departments to come together. Her presentation was impactful insofar as it served as an opportunity for such a gathering.     

(Atsuko UKAI)