School of Media Creative Arts and Social Inquiry (MCASI) Imaginary Aesthetic Territories: Australian Japonism in Printed Textile Design and Art Kelsey Ashe Giambazi This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University July 2018 0 Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Signature: Date: 15th July 2018 1 Acknowledgements I would like to sincerely express my thanks and gratitude to the following people: Dr. Ann Schilo for her patient guidance and supervisory assistance with my exegesis for the six-year duration of my candidacy. To learn the craft of writing with Ann has been a privilege and a joy. Dr. Anne Farren for her supervisory support and encouragement. To the staff of the Curtin Fashion Department, in particular Joanna Quake and Kristie Rowe for the daily support and understanding of the juggle of motherhood, work and ‘PhD land’. To Dr. Dean Chan for his impeccably thorough copy-editing and ‘tidying up’ of my bibliographical references. The staff in the School of Design and Art, in particular Dr. Nicole Slatter, Dr. Bruce Slatter and Dr. Susanna Castleden for being role models for a life with a balance of academia, art and family. My fellow PhD candidates who have shared the struggle and the reward of completing a thesis, in particular Fran Rhodes, Rebecca Dagnall and Alana McVeigh. Akira Isogawa for our artistic collaboration, in which I learned a great deal about Japanese aesthetics from ‘the master’ of Australian fashion and textile design. My close friends, who I consider my gems, Sheree Dornan, Rosemarie Sanguanini and Sandi Ryder for their long-term friendship, comic relief and understanding. My extended family, Con and MaryBeth Giambazi for the wonderful environment they provided for my children and entire family throughout the long process of completing my studies. Roslyn and Ian Heathorn, my parents in Tasmania for their practical support, encouragement and consistent championing onwards. Thankyou for always setting the standard so high. My father Michael Marshall who passed away in 2017, for his extravagant love for life, travel and of course, Japan. Brendan Giambazi, my husband, who has made the contemplation, let alone the completion of this thesis a possibility and a reality. The patience, assistance, conversation, feedback, understanding and solid unwavering support has been an immense blessing. My children, Delphi and Tasman, your contribution has been to challenge and inspire me to be my best. I dedicate this thesis to you both. 2 Abstract Imaginary Aesthetic Territories: Australian Japonism in Printed Textile Design and Art This doctoral project considers how Japanese influence has fused with printed textile design and art by examining its representations, use and significance in the fashion and arts sector in Australia. The research comprises practice-led studio inquiry, theoretical analysis and a personal narrative drawn from my experience of the Australian landscape and appreciation of the traditional arts of Japan. This exegesis examines the scholarly arguments that attempt to define and characterise Australian identity in fashion/textiles and art in order to contextualise how Japonism has been utilised in relation to it. I examine selected works by contemporary and historical artists including Florence Broadhurst and Akira Isogawa who have deliberately hybridised Australian and Japanese aesthetics, resulting in which I term ‘Australian Japonism’. The spatial arrangements and textile print designs within ukiyo-e (Japanese ‘pictures of the floating world’) have been a prime source of aesthetic inspiration for my theme of ‘Imaginary Aesthetic Territories’. I find correlations between the space indicated in Japanese pictorial principles and the open space of the Australian environment, and combine this with conventions of constructed exoticism inherent in Japonism. The consideration of traditional aesthetic qualities such as yūgen (subtly profound, mysterious grace) and wabi-sabi (beauty of things imperfect) also plays a crucial role in the development of this research. I investigate how these sensibilities can find a translation into Australian design, in my own work and that of others, teasing out the theoretical implications of working in this field. I draw from the commentary of scholars in the fields of Australian art and dress history, art theory, and Japanese aesthetics; from cultural and fashion theorists; and from the guidance of my own creative-led practice. My creative production involves the design of illustrative repeating patterns of Australian motifs focusing on flora, fauna and landscapes for contemporary fashion textiles. The patterns are presented as a modern form of ukiyo-e art, where an emphasis on the non-verbal communication of dress adds to the narratives introduced in the print designs. My studio practice therefore sits in a field which speaks equally to the disciplines of art, fashion and textile design. By utilising traditional compositions of Japanese pictorial space, asymmetrical and organic forms and the ‘sophisticated minimalism and freshness which is somehow eternally up-to-date’ (Snodin and Howard 1996 210), it is intended that the final works clearly represent cultural fusion with Japanese aesthetics whilst maintaining a recognisably Australian position of origin in order to update and replace previous stereotypes of kitsch Australiana. By considering the diverse interplay between Japonism in Australian fields of art and design as well as my relationship to and interpretation of the Australian landscape, this exegesis contributes to evolving discourses on Australia’s cultural identity and investigates how the processes of fusion and hybridity can create new and imaginary aesthetic territories. 3 Table of Contents Declaration……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………..…………..1 Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………….2 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……...….…..3 Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..6 Background to the Research…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7 Orientalism…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….9 Field of Inquiry……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..12 - Textile and print……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….12 - Fashion and art……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……..15 - Fashion illustration and digital design…………………………………………………………………………………..………17 Practice as Research……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….20 Chapter Overview………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……..21 Chapter One Australian Fashion and Textile Design Identity – Landscape, Australiana and Hybridity……………..…..23 Nation as Landscape…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…....24 Textile Identity Through Motif…………………………………………………………………………………………………….….….27 Australiana and Australian Fashion Identity……………………………………………………………………………….….…..30 Hybridity, Diversity and Globalisation…………………………………………………………………………………………………36 Chapter Two Japanese Aesthetic Traditions in Edo Era Japan…………………………………………………………………….…….…41 Ukiyo-e……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….….43 Traditional Japanese Aesthetics………………………………………………………………………………………………….….….46 Kachō-ga…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….….50 Textile Design in Ukiyo-e…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……..52 Chapter Three Japonism in Australian Art and Printed Textile Design………………………………………………………………..…62 Japonism in Australian Art……………………………………………………………………………………………..…………….……64 Japonism in Australian Printed Textile Design Post 1970s……………………………………………………………..…..70 Chapter Four Japonism in the Work of Florence Broadhurst………………………………………………………………………….…...77 Early Life and Career…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…...78 The Resurgence of Florence Broadhurst Designs and Timeless Design…………………………..…………………..81 Cultural Fusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...…85 On the Surface………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...…87 4 Chapter Five Japanese Aesthetics in the Work of Akira Isogawa…………………………………………………………………….….89 Early Life and Career……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….……..91 Akira Isogawa’s Aesthetic……………………………………………………………………………………………………….……...…93 The ‘Moment’ Between Florence Broadhurst and Akira Isogawa…………………………………………….…….....96 Cross-Cultural Influences………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….98 Collaborating with Akira Isogawa……………………………………………………………………………………………….…...100 Chapter Six Imaginary Aesthetic Territories – My Antipodean Floating World……………………………………….…….…106 Drawing the Landscape with a Wabi-Sabi Sensitivity……………………………………………………………….……...107 East-West Imaginings…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….….115 The Fashion Image of Ukiyo-e………………………………………………………………………………………………….….…..119 Exoticism, Cultural Yearning and Preservation of Diversity…………………………………………………….…….….125 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….…131 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...….….134 List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..145 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………............154 5 Figure 1. Kelsey