{"id":9,"date":"2020-11-15T22:45:43","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T03:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/?p=9"},"modified":"2021-01-07T15:12:28","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T20:12:28","slug":"object-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/2020\/11\/15\/object-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Object #3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Hosoe Eikoh \u7d30\u6c5f\u82f1\u516c (b. 1933)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><em>#33<\/em>, <em>Barakei<\/em> \u8594\u8587\u5211, 1961 (1963?), printed 1982<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Gelatin silver print<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">image: 39.6 x 54.6 cm. (15 9\/16 x 21 1\/2 in.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">sheet: 50.3 x 60.2 cm. (19 13\/16 x 23 11\/16 in.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, gift of Mrs. Max Adler<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u00a9 Eikoh Hosoe<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">In this photograph, the writer Mishima Yukio is captured in complete nudity from the backside. He lies on a painted backdrop adapted from the Renaissance masterpiece <em>Sleeping Venus<\/em> by Giorgione with the upper half of the Venus removed (Fig. 3-1).<a style=\"color: #000000\" href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> Mishima\u2019s tanned skin contrasts with Venus\u2019 pale skin in a way that recalls the color alternation of her body and the lawn behind her. Mishima\u2019s head both overlaps with and replaces her absent head, and the male and female bodies roughly form a harmonious half circle, suggesting a subtle physical and emotional closeness between the two. Mishima\u2019s body almost blends into the Renaissance landscape. To some extent, his body and the painting constitute another pictorial space that emerges from the darkness around the four sides of the photograph\u2013\u2013another realm of reality above the Renaissance painting and within the photographic image.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-9 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Giorgione-Sleeping-Venus.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"631\" src=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Giorgione-Sleeping-Venus.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Giorgione-Sleeping-Venus.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Giorgione-Sleeping-Venus-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Giorgione-Sleeping-Venus-768x473.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #666699\">Fig. 3-1. Giorgione, <em>Sleeping Venus<\/em>, c. 1510. Oil on canvas. 108.5 cm \u00d7 175 cm (42.7 in \u00d7 69 in). Gem\u00e4ldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-9 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Brakei-41-2.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"511\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Brakei-41-2.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Brakei-41-2.jpg 511w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Brakei-41-2-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 511px) 100vw, 511px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #666699\">Fig. 3-2. Hosoe Eikoh \u7d30\u6c5f\u82f1\u516c, <em>No. 41<\/em>, from <em>Barakei <\/em>\u8594\u8587\u5211<em>.<\/em> 1961.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">How should we understand this juxtaposition of Mishima\u2019s nude body and the Renaissance painting of <em>Sleeping Venus<\/em>? One may gain more insights by examining this photograph in relation to other photographs from the <em>Barakei<\/em> series that also employ this copy of Giorgione\u2019s <em>Sleeping Venus<\/em> as a prop. In the No. 41 photograph from the series, for instance, Mishima lies horizontally on an elaborate Baroque-style bench in a garden with a classical sculpture bust (Fig. 3-2). Behind the bench hangs the painted backdrop after Giorgione\u2019s <em>Sleeping Venus<\/em>. The partially reproduced body of Venus lies parallel to Mishima\u2019s body. Instead of including any representation of the entanglement of the two bodies, both the photograph on display and the No. 41 photograph portray a parallel relationship between Mishima\u2019s body and that of Venus. In another case, Mishima is seen in a posture of contemplation in the lower part of the No. 16 photograph from this series (Fig. 3-3). The body of Venus and another image of two embraced semi-nude male and female bodies are juxtaposed above Mishima\u2019s head, as if these two images are what Mishima is puzzling over. More interestingly, Hosoe inserts a dark gap between the image of the two entangled bodies and the painted copy of <em>Sleeping Venus<\/em>, which is visually connected to Mishima\u2019s body without any gap, thus highlighting the different kinds of relationship between the two groups of male and female bodies. In other words, in all three aforementioned photographs that group Mishima with the painted copy of <em>Sleeping Venus<\/em>, Mishima assumes a position of reflection that both engages with and is detached from Venus\u2019 body. Such juxtaposition turns these photographs into Mishima\u2019s performance of his own self-reflexive journey, during which he sees himself both with and against Venus\u2019 body\u2013\u2013in Hosoe\u2019s words, \u201cMishima\u2019s Venus would be borne by merging his flesh with the half-painted <em>Sleeping Venus<\/em>.\u201d<a style=\"color: #000000\" href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-3' class='gallery galleryid-9 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Barakei-16.jpeg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"731\" src=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Barakei-16-1024x731.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Barakei-16-1024x731.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Barakei-16-300x214.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Barakei-16-768x548.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/239\/2020\/11\/Barakei-16.jpeg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #666699\">Fig. 3-3. Hosoe Eikoh \u7d30\u6c5f\u82f1\u516c, <em>No. 16<\/em>, from <em>Barakei <\/em>\u8594\u8587\u5211<em>.<\/em> 1961.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">In addition to the reference to the issue of sexuality, this juxtaposition of the bodies of Mishima and Venus is also reflexive of Mishima\u2019s attitude towards the rapid Westernization in Japan at the time. In his literary works, Mishima often advocates a return to the traditional <em>samurai<\/em> values and rejects Westernized modernization. In terms of formal representation, he also insisted on publishing his literary works following the Japanese vertical format.<a style=\"color: #000000\" href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">[<\/span>3]<\/a> Nevertheless, he also exhibited a passion in Renaissance art and clearly lived in a house with Baroque- and Rococo-style furniture and decorative objects. In fact, Hosoe decided to incorporate motifs from Renaissance art into the photographic project after Mishima mentioned about his favor of Renaissance art and showed Hosoe his copy of Bernard Berenson\u2019s book <em>The Italian Painters of the Renaissance<\/em> and several reproduction of Italian Renaissance paintings that he owned.<a style=\"color: #000000\" href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> Hosoe later explained that he believed that \u201cthe soul of a man [resided] in his property, and that his spirit [was] especially evident in the art and the possessions that [surrounded] him.\u201d<a style=\"color: #000000\" href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a> Mishima\u2019s ambiguous standing in between Japanese cultural tradition and its Western counterpart was artfully visualized through the juxtaposition of Mishima\u2019s body and Western cultural symbols. In the photograph on display, Mishima\u2019s staged contemplation in a \u201cnude theater\u201d and his struggling in real life overlap in the photographic image, turning the photograph into a documentation of a performance or a performance about what is there but hidden.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666699\"><a style=\"color: #666699\" href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Hosoe Eikoh, \u201cNotes on Photographing <em>Barakei<\/em>,\u201d in Ivan Vartanian, Akihiro Hatanaka, and Yutaka Kambayashi, eds. <em>Setting Sun: Writings by Japanese Photographers <\/em>(New York: Aperture, 2006), 134.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666699\"><a style=\"color: #666699\" href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Hosoe Eikoh, \u201cNotes on Photographing <em>Barakei<\/em>,\u201d 137.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666699\"><a style=\"color: #666699\" href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Mishima compromised to have the second edition of <em>Barakei<\/em> (published on January 30, 1971) published in a Western fashion, with the pages flipped from right to left and the text read horizontally. Hosoe Eikoh, \u201cNotes on Photographing <em>Barakei<\/em>,\u201d 138.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666699\"><a style=\"color: #666699\" href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Hosoe Eikoh, \u201cNotes on Photographing <em>Barakei<\/em>,\u201d 134.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666699\"><a style=\"color: #666699\" href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> Hosoe Eikoh, \u201cNotes on Photographing <em>Barakei<\/em>,\u201d 137.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hosoe Eikoh \u7d30\u6c5f\u82f1\u516c (b. 1933) #33, Barakei \u8594\u8587\u5211, 1961 (1963?), printed 1982 Gelatin silver print image: 39.6 x 54.6 cm. (15 9\/16 x 21 1\/2 in.) sheet: 50.3 x 60.2 cm. (19 13\/16 x 23 11\/16 in.) Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, gift of Mrs. Max Adler \u00a9 Eikoh Hosoe In this photograph, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3443,"featured_media":106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hosoe-eikoh-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3443"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":406,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/art574-yixu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}