Japonisme

During the late 19th century into the 20th century Artists over Europe and to the West of the world were inspired to create artwork that was heavily influenced by the Japanese culture and traditional artists techniques. This period of art was called Japonisme and became very popular due to the trade restrictions with Japan being lifted in 1858, this therefore created a glimpse into this mysterious and unfamiliar part of the world.
Gustav Klimt’s ‘Lady with the Fan’ (1918) has a strong oriental atmosphere when viewed, this is also applicable to his other pieces such as ‘The Kiss’ (1908).
Lady with the fan emits the traditional properties of Japanese wood block prints and scroll prints. The distinguishing colours of bold yellows and gold can be found in Japanese artwork dating from years beforehand in scrolls where illustrations were painted on silk, this gives the traditional Japanese artwork it’s glowing foreground which is distinctively bold in this particular piece of Klimt’s work and also in many other works such as The Kiss and Portrait Of Eugenia Primavesi. Japonisme was greatly influential on the Austrian Artist.
The composition and layout of Gustav Klimt’s ‘Lady’ is very similar to way female courtesans and geishas were portrayed. An example of the Japanese style I believe holds similarity and influence is by Tsukioka Settei’s hanging scroll ‘Reading by Lantern Light’ (1776-1786). I believe Klimt was recreating the same outlook that the beauty of a Geisha had, replicating the bold and elegant portrayal of these women in his own paintings, when their livelihood was much less than these beautiful pictures would suggest. The single women are both adorned in the beautifully designed kimonos which grasp the viewers eyes in both paintings. The ‘Lady with the fan’ holds strong resemblances of the pale faced geisha’s with the dark hair pinned above the neckline and rose blushed cheeks, creating a strong contrast between the pale faced beauty and the glowing background it’s impossible to miss the sexual suggestiveness of the Lady’s bare shoulder which evokes the hidden Japanese influence of a Geisha’s true prowess.
The background of Klimt’s work is beautifully filled with Lotus’s and birds which resemble either a brightly coloured peacock or peafowl, these birds are associated in Japan as symbolism of religion, success and prosperity whilst traditionally Lotus Flowers in Japan are connected through Buddhist symbolism as being enchanting and pure of the mind, body and speech.
Another Artist who was heavily influenced by the Japanese culture was Van Gogh. He created many pieces of work during the 19th century in France after collecting Japanese wood block prints and studying their style, composition and structure he then started to incorporate these skills and influences into his own work.
Van Gogh even went to re create artwork that had already been done but in his own style, such as ‘Bridge in the rain’ 1887. The artist put his own painting style to use on the original ‘Sudden shower over Shin-Ohashi’ by Utagawa Hiroshigo (1857), this piece of work see’s him create more depth and atmosphere by using dark tones to produce a deeper contrast and adds an additional border of Japanese scripture. Van Gogh took a strong interest and admiration for the Japanese style and culture and from this produced several great pieces.
During this time though the early 20th century was not just the Japonisme era, some artists were not influenced by this new phase of inspiration. The world was starting to open up, countries being explored, and new cultures being discovered which other artists took great inspiration from such as Picasso and his African collection which contained tribal masks and quite disturbing portraits but again heavily influenced by different cultures. Paul Gaugin on his exile to Tahiti created beautiful bold and exotic paintings of the local women and Umberto Boccioni was producing structured and cubist paintings such as ‘States of mind: I The Farewells’. Even though Japonisme was a change in the world of art in the 19th/20th century, it is never the only inspiration that graces artists during this time as Art is constantly moving forward and evolving.
 

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