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Japonisme
The History of a Plagiarism, 1858–1910
The creative genius of the European avant-garde did not result from an artistic big bang, but rather from an exceptional fusion of European and Japanese arts, which was dubbed Japonisme by Philippe Burty in 1872.
Chapter 1 - The Story of a Breaking Wave
Following the opening of Japan to the West in 1854, Europeans imported Japanese goods on a massive scale. These items, featuring the absolute antithesis of Western artistic tradition, provided the foundations for its modernity. Japan was everywhere, from Le Bon Marché to the World's Fairs, and Eastern fashion was all the rage.
Chapter 2 - Motifs and Formats Borrowed from Japan
Japanese motifs infiltrated European art, including images of bridges, irises, trees, dragonflies, and Mount Fuji. The Land of the Rising Sun inspired Art Nouveau decorative arts, ranging from porcelain and vases to jewellery. Prints by Japanese artists, in particular Hokusai and Hiroshige, were highly sought after and sold by merchants such as Bing and Madame Desoye. Everyone, from Monet to the Goncourt brothers, succumbed to Japanese aesthetics.
Chapter 3 - The Avant-Garde and Japan, Gustav Klimt and Vincent van Gogh
Then came a time when Japanese compositions nourished our avant-garde artists. Gustav Klimt developed a passion for Japanese textiles, and his works The Kiss (Österreichische Galerie Belvedere) and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (Neue GAlerie New-York) were inspired by his Japanese collections. Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo collected Japanese prints. Van Gogh's drawing and colouring also developed under the influence of Hokusai and Hiroshige.
Chapter 4 - The Avant-Garde and Japan, Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Two other great modern painters and illustrators, Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, were also passionate about Japan. Degas revolutionised his art by adopting Japanese techniques, such as diagonal composition and truncated motifs, while Toulouse-Lautrec sought to capture the vibrancy of the Japanese masters' inks and printing techniques in his posters.
Bibliography:
Siegfried Wichmann, Japonisme: The Japanese Influence on Western Art Since 1858, Thames and Hudson, 1999
Marc Restellini, Sjraar Van Heugten, Wouter Van der Veen , Gabriel P. Weisberg, Vincent van Gogh, Rêve de Japon, Van Restellini ed., 2012
Danièle Devynck, Toulouse Lautrec et le Japonisme, Musée Toulouse Lautrec d'Albi, 1999
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