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POlAND-JAPAN
CONTEMPORARYARTANDARTisTiCRElATiONs
AnnaKatarzynaMaleszko
NationalMuseuminWarsaw
WhatdoestheEastmeantotheWest?
Onourinspirationalget-togethers
RudyardKipling(1865-1936),therenownedEng-
lishwriteroftheVictorianera,wrotethefamous
phrase“EastisEastandWestisWest,andneverthe
twainshallmeet”
l1Indoingso,hisintentionwas
nottoespouseabeliefinEurope’ssuperiorityover
theEastassomehadinterpretedit(thoughcertain-
lyhedidsubscribetothehistoricandcivilisational
missionofEuropeans),buttovoicehisconviction
onthediversityofhumannaturelHebelievedthat
peoplefromdifferentcivilisationsandculturesare
sodissimilarthatcompletemutualunderstanding
isnotpossiblelRespect,sure,butunderstanding,
notquitel
Sincethelate19thcentury,culturalanthropo-
logicalstudyhasspawnedmanytheories,oftencon-
flictingones,ontheinterminglingandmutualin-
fluencebetweendifferentcivilisationsandculturesl
Today,asJanKieniewiczcorrectlynoted,“thinking
andspeakingonthemultiplicityofworldshasbe-
comeacommodity,anelementoftheconsumer-
istmodelofliving,butitrequiresacertaineffortl
Overlysimpleinterpretationsofthecomplexityof
theworldprovedtobeinsufficienttoitsunder-
standingandineffectiveinattemptstointroduce
changelItwasinthesecircumstancesthatthe21st
centurybegan,bringingwithitfurtherquestions
1Kipling(1889)l
aboutthefuturelToday,weincreasinglyframethe
futureinaconventionofconfrontationbetween
civilisations,whosecharactermayprovedecisive,
dependingonwhethertheconfrontationstakethe
formofconflictoramityl”2
Thankstotheastoundinggrowthoftechnology
andcommunicationwecanfreelymoveaboutthis
worldofmanycivilisationsandcultures,crossing
thepersonalboundarieswewereraisedwithlSlowly
theterm“culture”itselfisbecomingaproblemlLet
usrecallthatinthepastthiswordmeantsomething
like“refinement,”or,asMatthewArnoldputit“a
studyofperfectionl”3Followingtheresearchwork
ofFranzBoas,wenolongerspeakofcultureat
largebutofculturesbuiltbyvariouscommunitiesl
Accordingtothistheory,eachcommunityhasits
ownuniqueculturelWeowethespreadofthisun-
derstandingofthewordculturetoafamous1934
workbyRuthBenedicttitledPatternsofCulturel
Anotherfundamentalworkbythisoutstandingan-
thropologist,TheChrysanthemumandtheSword,
gaveusanin-depthandincrediblyaccuratepicture
ofthedistinctivenessofJapaneseculture,oftheway
itspeopleperceiveandunderstandtheworldl
2Kieniewicz(2003:11)l
3Mathews(2000:14)l
