Modernization of the Japanese art education program at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (second half of the 19th century)

Abstract

The study aims to identify the features of the educational process of the Western European Painting Department at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in the context of the historical development of the system of Europeanized art education in Japan in the 19th-20th centuries. The article presents a study of the curriculum of the Western European Painting Department at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, created in the late 19th century, developed by the administrative unit, teachers, and artists based on the cultural exchange between Japan and France. The curriculum is a unique example showing new options for the interaction of international cultural experience, which remains relevant in modern art education. As a result of the study, the mechanisms of the influence of the political environment on the formation of the curriculum of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts were identified, and innovative methods of pedagogical management developed by the school’s directors were determined. Scientific sources shedding light on the specifics of art education in Japan when interacting with the cultural experience of Europe that had not previously been translated into Russian have been introduced into scientific use, which accounts for the scientific novelty of the study. Initially, the curriculum included only elements of the national school of painting, which at that time fully corresponded to the purpose of its establishment, i.e., the revival of the Japanese tradition. But over time, European trends began to be gradually introduced. In 1896, the Western European Painting Department was opened, where students sequentially studied drawing from plaster figures, anatomy and drawing from life, landscape, plein air and historical painting, and also had the opportunity to intern in France and Belgium. As a result of the analysis of the curriculum, significant changes in the trends of Japanese art education in the second half of the 19th century were revealed, and the connection between the educational process and political transformations was shown. The Tokyo School of Fine Arts found a balance between preserving traditional teaching methods and introducing new European techniques, which allowed it to become one of the most progressive art educational institutions in the country.

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Publication history

• Received: April 23, 2025.
• Published: July 23, 2025.

Keywords

• Токийская школа изящных искусств
• Курода Сэйки
• учебный план института искусств
• художественное образование в Японии
• Tokyo School of Fine Arts
• Kuroda Seiki
• curriculum of the Institute of Arts
• art education in Japan

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