Yokohama Boomtown Curriculum, Lesson 06
An Investigation into the Historiography of Yokohama Boomtown: How Does History Change When New Perspectives Are Discovered?
Supplemental Art Analysis Page | Printer-friendly PDF file | Printer-friendly Word doc
Scroll through the “Boomtown” section of the Yokohama Boomtown Essay. Ask students to deduce who made/photographed/painted the images displayed there. Show them how to use the caption beneath each image to determine its origin. Though all the image titles are written in English, have students get used to predicting whether the artist was Japanese or of European or American descent. In other words, was this a view from a native Japanese or Western source? There are 22 images from Japanese artists and two from British artists in this section. How do these images differ? What elements seem to be documented in the Japanese views which might be ignored in the English illustrations?
Sadahide (1807-ca. 1878)
Complete Picture of the Newly Opened Port of Yokohama
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
1. An American institution, but the artist is Japanese.
2. The artwork, though gentle in color, uses the angle of vision familiarly seen in Japanese images called “fukinuki yatai” (blowing off the roof) from that time period.
3. The date and the title tell you the print was made early in the Yokohama era. The opening of the port is announced in the title.
Lesson developed by Meredith Melzer.
On viewing images from the historical record: click here.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology © 2008 Visualizing Cultures