ABSTRACT
John Clark has identified that different articulations of aesthetic nationalism in modern Asian art correspond to different phases in the development of the nation-state. The references to Coomaraswamy and Tagore, both influential in presenting Asian art to the West, suggest Tardieu had absorbed currents of the pan-Asian aesthetic theory circulating in the period. The technique of painting in lacquer also came about through a synthesis of existing local artisanal practices, French painting, and research into techniques and styles from elsewhere in East Asia. Like French colonial educators, the Japanese considered Vietnamese art part of East Asian art. Artists were also aware of the links between pan-Asianism and Japanese control. Vietnamese artists could also see a “familiar other” in Japanese art, not only because of a perception of shared “Asian” aesthetic values, but also because Japanese art shared a familiar problematic of modernity.
