Japonisme

In the 1850s and 60s, a trend known as “Japonisme” emerges in Western Europe, particularly France. In the mid-1800s, the Japanese began to trade with the west again. So, as a result there were many Japanese imports that were sent to Europe. The term is French, and it describes the period in which Japanese art (especially woodcut prints) influenced western art (from the 19th century.) In 1862, a shop opens in Paris called “The Chinese Gate.” The shop sold Japanese prints made from woodblocks, which appealed greatly to 19th century artists. The best Japanese prints could be found in Paris. In the late 1800s, there were many French artists and collectors that went to Japan. Articles were featured in French magazines and newspapers concerning Japanese art techniques, and prints from the Edo era. In the 1860s to the 1880s, there was a frenzy to collect and imitate these prints. There were so many artists influenced by Japanese prints, like, van Gogh, Mary Cassatt, Gauguin, Whistler, Degas, Monet, Gustav Klimpt, and even the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. There was a tremendous admiration for aspects of Japanese art (the “other.”) Some painters included Japanese prints in the background of their painted scene (almost to pay homage.) Some examples are Manet’s, Portrait of Emile Zola. In this painting, instead of having things fade into a distance, or background, Manet shows clearly a large Japanese print. With size and detail, a different type of space (than the sitter’s surroundings) is implied. Van Gogh copies Japanese prints, which is perhaps most famously done in his Flowering Plum Tree (1887) which is after Hiroshige’s Plum Estate Kameido (1857.) Van Gogh also copied Hiroshige’s Evening Shower at Atake and the Great Bridge (1856,) in his, Bridge in the Rain (1887.)

What artists admire about Japanese prints is their foreignness, uniqueness that comes from specific elements employed by Japanese painters. One of these elements is the lack of distinction of shading in Japanese prints. Artists, like Manet, who were influenced by Japanese prints, began to break down distinctions between depth. In traditional European painting, the distinctions between depth are distinct, so much so that it appears three-dimensional at times. Another element is Japanese artists’ disregard for symmetry, something that had defined a lot of western European art. Japanese techniques were so different from the Greco-Roman art that has been a primary influence on western art for centuries. The Japanese artists emphasize flatness. I think that the most interesting element that influenced western European painters was the adaptation of the mentality of the Japanese painter, putting an emphasis on nature, and recording nature in an almost picturesque fashion, stressing the verticality of their painting, and painting from aerial perspective are some examples.

One Japanese Print I love is by Hiroshige and it’s called, Eagle Flying over the Fukagama District, from his One Hundred Views of Edo series (1856 - 1858.) I drove to Yale just to see this one in person and it’s unbelievable. There’s this scene of winter, captured with these bright whites and blues. There are snow-topped mountains in the background. Plants in the distance are shown as these dots, but with incredible detail for their size. The flatness is emphasized by the lake, which is frozen on the top. Hiroshige shows the different levels of the water by darkening each level’s blue hue. But the most amazing part is that there’s this eagle that just appears in the frame as the closest thing to the viewer. You get a sense that the painter is elevated in the air, and therefore high enough to see an eagle this close. But the best part is the photographic quality to the print. It seems that Hiroshige was just painting this scene from above when an eagle swoops into his view and he paints it as if he has taken a snapshot of that exact moment. I think it’s so beautiful.