I really enjoyed this lunchtime lecture, as well as having the opportunity to talk to Ms. Adams a little bit even prior to the event. I felt that she covered so much information, but at the same time was really thorough - which I greatly appreciated.
A lot of the information she covered was pretty familiar to me as I had heard a very similar lecture a few years ago, but this time served as a great review and reminder. Ms. Adams first talked about both the early influences of the west on the east, that of the east on the west, how Japanese Aesthetics came to be, and what aesthetics really are: beauty and the appreciation of beauty. She also touched on how easily and often eastern culture was misinterpreted. The focus of the lecture then turned more specifically to the concepts of Wabi, Sabi, and Yugen. The idea of Wabi is derived from Shinto ideals and embraces disappointment, poverty, and imperfection - both visually and of life itself. Sabi relates more to sensitivity, and often deals with sadness or melancholy. Lastly, Yugen, which actually originated within Buddhism and came to Japan around the 6th century, deals with mystery, depth, spirituality, and a higher realm. Apart from these three main ideas, Ms. Adams also mentioned a few other prevalent concepts in Japanese Aesthetics. These included but were not limited to the importance and praise of shadows, the role of rice, qualities of food containers, relationship between mystery and darkness, the role of literature, theatre and its evolution, and temple architecture. Overall, I am very grateful I had the opportunity to attend this lecture. I feel like I learned a lot and will be able to use this information as a great resource in the future. I always find myself feeling so inspired after learning about art history and various types of art, and this has proven to be true in this case as well.
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