This thesis focuses upon the artistic and poetic subject of the Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang, from its origin in the Xiao-Xiang region in the Hunan province of China throughout its dispersal in East Asian countries such as Korea and Japan. Certain aesthetics and iconography were retained from the early examples, throughout the Eight Views’ transformation from the eleventh to the nineteenth century. The subject‟s close associations with poetry, atmospheric phenomena and the context of exile were reflected in the imagery of the painting and the accompanying verses. This thesis will discuss the historic, geographic and poetic origins of the Eight Views, along with a thorough investigation into the artistic styles which various East Asian artists employed in their own interpretations of the series. Furthermore, the dispersal and diaspora of the subject throughout East Asia are also investigated in this thesis. The work of Japanese artist Ando Hiroshige will serve as the concluding apogee. The Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang is an important East Asian artistic subject in both poetry and painting and contains many pervasive East Asian aesthetics.

L’interférence et interaction Europe-Asie sur le plan culturel et artistique qui s’est épanouie durant le XIXe siècle a ouvert une nouvelle réserve de nouveaux matériaux pour la création littéraire et artistique. De cet échange chacun des deux continents a retiré pour lui-même des éléments qui lui étaient bénéfiques aux points de vue littérature, peinture, musique, architecture, et même religion... La thèse intitulée “Influence de la musique asiatique sur la composition chez Claude Debussy” est entreprise dans le but de rechercher les ingrédients exotiques exploités avec grande délicatesse et sensibilité par Debussy – homme progressiste ouvert aux courants nouveaux, symbole de l’Impressionnisme en musique et surtout grande célébrité pour ses nouvelles limites en timbres. L’analyse d’environ 140 œuvres officiellement publiées de Debussy confirme sa grande réussite dans la mise en œuvre des matériaux musicaux Asiatiques. D’autre part, la thèse se propose aussi de montrer cet autre aspect de Debussy, à savoir qu’il était la somme harmonieuse de l’esthéticisme dans l’art Japonais, de la pureté des échelles traditionnelles, et de la témérité dans l’emploi de timbres nouveaux provenant des instruments Asiatiques. / The cultural and artistic interference and interaction that flowered during the 19th century between Europe and Asia brought a new enormous storage of artistic material at the disposal of European artists. Both continents derived from it materials useful to them in terms of literature, paintings, music, architecture and even religion... The present thesis, “Influence of Asian music on Claude Debussy’s composing”, aims at spotting out exotic materials subtly and sensitively brought into play by Debussy – a progressist spirit open to new trends, symbol of Impressionism in music and, above all, top celebrity for his setting of the new limits for timbres. Analysis of 140 Debussy’s officially published works confirms his success in using Asian materials for his music. Moreover, the thesis also manage to bring into light this other aspect of Debussy, as the final and successful product from the blend between Japanese estheticism, purity of the traditional scales and boldness in the use of new timbres from Asian instruments.

Considered under the theme 'The Floating World', the aim of this research project was to create a written exegesis and a series of artworks, primarily in the form of digital animation and illustration, which investigate decorative and illustrative art practices and their historical lineages. Particular emphasis was given to investigating the links between contemporary decorative/illustrative art practice and the aesthetics and psychology of the Edo period in Japan (C17th - C19th), in which the term 'The Floating World' was used to describe the city of Edo (old Tokyo). The writing concerned with The Floating World is comprised of the following chapters: history; concepts; aesthetics; contemporary adaptations of Ukiyo-e; and gothic romance and associated genres. The outcomes of my Masters program represent a sustained exploration of decorative and illustrative art practice and theory, and incorporate experimentation with associated genres such as magic realism, gothic romance, the uncanny, iconography, surrealism and other metaphorical and abstract representational practices. More broadly, my Masters project is an investigation, both theoretical and practical, into the way drawing and illustration have been a process through which to (literally) give shape to hopes and fears, and to describe understandings of self and the world. I am particularly interested in exploring how, through the act of abstraction and the use of metaphor and decoration, a capacity to 'speak the unspeakable' and 'know the unknowable' are somehow enabled. For example, when contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami decorates Edo-inspired screens with a colourful arrangement of morphing cartoon mushrooms, he conjures up a startling and complex poetic space that juxtaposes traditional Japanese aesthetics and philosophy with the hyper-consumerist characters and ethos of Disneyland, as well as disquieting references to the mushroom bombs that dropped down on Hiroshima and Nagasaki from US planes. A similarly complex space is enacted by contemporary US artist Inka Essenhigh: her oversized canvases seem like sublime Japanese-inspired screens but a closer inspection reveals that the decorative motifs are actually dismembered body parts morphed together to create a savage and compelling metaphor for contemporary America that is all the more disarming for being perf ormed in a seemingly innocuous illustrative style. My research will draw on these examples but will endeavour to create a series of artworks that are particular to an Australian context. This interests me particularly in a time when, as a nation, we appear to be confounded about what it means to be Australian: as a contemporary artist I am interested in how we represent ourselves as a nation, and in exploring the motifs and attributes that we consider to be ours.

Seen from abroad, Tokyo appears as a huge, vibrant metropolis where 21st-century Japan meets the traditional side of the country. Tokyo´s skyline is a diverse jumble of traditional houses and shrines, and modern architecture from skyscrapers of glass to 1970´s living capsules. Since the beginning, Tokyo has had great prerequisites for creating a city with amazing urban environment. Water was the first reason for people to settle down in Tokyo Bay. During Edo period (1603 – 1867), Tokyo was always described as a picturesque city with well-planned hydrology and a harmonic relationship with nature. With its canals full of water, it was a city comparable to Venice. The distribution and exchange relied almost entirely on water transport. With the expansion of the city, the water system had to be upgraded, which led to creating a complex network of waterways. Unlike in Western countries, where the economic, social and cultural life of the city developed around rather formal places as plazas and squares, in Japan, the lifeblood of the city developed in close connection with the water and nature. These places, also known as “meisho” (名所, lit. “famous places”) used to be linear open structures such as streets, river shores and bridges. During the transformation of Tokyo into a modern capital, the city cut many ties with the past. The unused canals suddenly became redundant and started belonging to the “wrong” side of the city. By the 1980s, many of the waterways were so polluted that the government began filling them up or covering them with elevated highways in preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The modernization and its transformation also meant that most of the network of “meisho” and greenery have disappeared. “From dameisho to meisho” is inspired by series of woodblock prints “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” (名所江戸百景, Meisho Edo Hyakkei) completed by the Japanese artist Hiroshige Ando (1797–1858), depicting a matrix of famous public spaces in Tokyo. My project examines the possibilities of recasting “meisho”, a spatial representation in Japanese culture, into a new, modern context via editing different layers of the city and its fabric. It explores linear, thread-like spaces such as Edo waterways, its transformations roads, as well as recently built elevated highways in order to search for contaminations and new collaborations, unexpected conditions and create new, green urban stitches. As one of the tackling tools, the project also looks at demographic trends shaping Japan and benefits from aging society and shrinking Japanese population. Last but not least I investigate ways of graphical reinterpretation of the series of woodblock prints using Tokyo and its new “meisho” spaces as a rolemodel.