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How did Japanese art influence the European art in 19th-20th century ?
Mathilde NICOLAS, UČO 530271

The plan
–I – The influence of Japanese art on the French Impressionists and Nabis at the end of the 19th
century (beginning of the 20th century)
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–II – The influence of Japanese prints on the Impressionists

Aqua and green fractal background like floral petal
Introduction
–When? 19ème siècle (start 20th century)
–Where?
-Expansion of travel to Asia – cultural tourism X artistic tourism to discover and to acquire new
methods of work, drawing, perspective that Westerners do not have and then bring them back to use.
-1st travel in Japan: the Netherlands at the beginning 1868 and after the Europeans.
-Meiji era : 1868-1912
–What?
-Symbol of Asian art: Zen, Buddhism, imperfect nature, flowers (waterlilies, lotus), exotic
animals/birds, etc.
–Who?
-Impressionists, « Nabis » > influenced by Asian arts like the « Ukiyo-e » movement, or artists
such as Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai (The Wave off Kanagawa, 1830)

I – The influence of Japanese art on the French Impressionists and Nabis at the end of the 19th
century (beginning of the 20th century)
Portrait of Émile Zola, Édouard Manet, 1868, Musée d’Orsay

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Tempera on wooden panels, Pierre Bonnard,  1889
« With the universal exhibitions of Paris, that is to say the "Universal Exhibition" of 1855, 1867
and 1878, Japanese Ukizo-e woodblock prints became known. », Michel-Schertges Asian Journal of
German and European Studies, 2019

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Claude Monet, Le Bassin aux nymphéas, 1898, Musée d’Orsay Paris
« Japanese are often thought not to be intellectual and philosophical, because their general
culture is not thoroughly impregnated with intellectuality. This criticism, I think, results
somewhat from the Japanese love of asymmetry. The intellectual primarily aspires to balance, while
the Japanese are apt to ignore it and incline strongly towards imbalance. » (Suzuki 2010, p. 27).

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Claude Monet, Nymphéas, 1903, Musée Marmottan, Paris 16ème
-Floral patterns: nenuphar from Japan
-Asymmetry and "fuzzy" landscape > imperfection of the landscape
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-Reflection of trees in the water > impression of movement

II – The influence of Japanese prints on the Impressionists
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Claude Monet, Argenteuil Bridge, 1874 (on the left) / Estampe japonaise, Hiroshige (on the right)

« Look, we love Japanese painting, we’ve experienced its influence — all the Impressionists have
that in common — and we wouldn’t go to Japan, in other words, to what is the equivalent of Japan,
the south? So I believe that the future of the new art still lies in the south after all. (…)
I’d like you to spend some time here, you’d feel it — after some time your vision changes, you see
with a more Japanese eye, you feel color differently. I’m also convinced that it’s precisely
through a long stay here that I’ll bring out my personality. The Japanese draws quickly, very
quickly, like a flash of lightning, because his nerves are finer, his feeling simpler  » (Vincent
van Gogh, Lettres d’Arles à son frère Théo, 1888)
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Almond branches in bloom, 1890, Vincent van Gogh

Bibliography
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–1) « Monet, Gaugin, van Gogh… Tous sous influence japonaise ! » Télérama, 09/04/2018 (mis-à-jour
08/12/2020), Sophie Cachon, consulté le 10/05/2022
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–2) « Contemporary Asian art and Western societies: cultural “universalism” or “uniqueness” in
Asian modern art », Dirk Michel-Schertges, Asian Journal of German and European Studies, 2019,
consulté le 10/05/2022
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