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Abstract
This dissertation investigates the ambiguous genre of okimono 置物 (lit. placeable objects) of the Meiji period 明治時代 (1868–1912) and their locus in Japanese sculptural history. Before the inception of the genre of chōkoku 彫刻 (tr. sculpture) from the West during the Meiji period, the term okimono was used in Japan to loosely refer to all three-dimensional objects. However, during the late 1800s, Meiji government officials forcibly replaced the word okimono with the Western term sculpture in an effort to prove to the world that Japan, too, produced Fine Arts. As a result of this philosophical and cultural supplantation, many Japanese objects, like okimono, were either recategorized as sculpture or simply displaced. Yet, while remaining a minor term overall, okimono has gained a different reputation in the international sphere. Explicitly, the group of objects known as okimono has begun to be treated as a more formal genre of uniquely Japanese sculpture in America, while in Japan the category remains less distinct. Why is this the case? By investigating okimono, this project attempts to clarify this discrepancy through visual and written examples and to address the consequences of the implantation of Western art categories onto already-existing Japanese aesthetics during this time. Chapter One grapples with the varied definitions of the term okimono found in Japanese and English sources throughout history. The gap between the written official narrative and pragmatic use of the term by artists and the general public contributed to the international ambiguity of the genre. Chapter Two investigates okimono and okimono-like objects through the World’s Fairs. The limited kinds of okimono submitted to the Expositions contributed to the narrowing of the definition of okimono in America, while more monumental sculpture became popular in Japan, replacing okimono as sculpture. Chapter Three will mainly look at okimono traded in the American-Japanese art market from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The existing popularity of ceramic figurines initiated by East Asian trades in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries provided a foundation from which okimono were easily accepted as interior décor in America while remaining a separate genre in Japan. Chapter Four inquiries into the practice of collecting okimono in America. By considering both private and museum collections of these objects in both America and Japan, one can begin to see that private connoisseurs of Asian art have played a larger role in the canonization of okimono in the Euro-Americas. Comparatively, the “canon” of art in Japan during this time was dictated by the Japanese government, and in turn, okimono are now considered crafts in their country of origin.