This essay explores the gaze directed at 'primitive' others by Japanese modern artists Hijikata Hisakatsu (1900–1977) and Miyatake Tatsuo (1892–1960), focusing on both art and ethnography in the southern territories of Imperial Japan. By analyzing their artworks, writings, and curatorial perspectives, I detail how Hijikata and Miyatake represented 'primitive' others in their art and curatorial projects when they returned to Japan from their field trips and how they developed their primitivizing gaze during the era of imperialism and colonialism. This essay aims to reevaluate their works relating to primitivism, clarifying the cultural and social contexts that had enabled them to explore the gaze directed at 'primitive' others and thus reinforcing stereotypical images.
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Hanako Shinohara (2024) studied this question.
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