Visualizing Music in Modern Japan: Sheet Music (and Music Ephemera) at the Crossroads of Modern Mass Culture

Thursday, February 27
1:00–3:00 p.m. PT
Speaker: Kendall Brown, PhD, Professor of Asian Art History, California State University Long Beach
Virtual Event

This talk introduces the topic of Japanese sheet music cover design from 1920-1950 as the nexus of visual art, film, and popular song. It posits the humble, disposable music sheets as perhaps the most sensitive lens to capture popular arts in Japan during the tumultuous period before, during, and just after World War II. The lecture includes snippets of Japanese music and film.

Speaker Bio: Kendall Brown is emeritus Professor of Asian Art History in the Art Department at California State University Long Beach. He is an art historian and has published and curated widely of Japanese art and Japanese-style gardens in North America.. In 2024 for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston he guest curated the exhibition,Songs for Modern Japan: The Art of Japanese Sheet Music,  1905- 1950.

Please note, this session will be conducted virtually via Zoom.

Save your spot. All participants will be sent the Zoom link via confirmation email with instructions once you secure your place.

Sponsored by the Asian Arts Council.

Featured at top right: Takehisa Yumeji, Kageki, Tsubakihime (Opera, La Dame aux Camélias [La Traviata])(detail), 1923, 9th reprinting. 1917 original. Ink on paper. Image courtesy of Kendall Brown.