J Japonisme

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Japonisme

 

Japonisme refers to the influence that Japanese art had on Western art in the late nineteenth century. Japan, formerly a closed society, was opened to the world in 1854, and Japanese art became wildly popular throughout Europe. Many impressionists and postimpressionist artists were inspired particularly by Japanese woodblock prints, known for their delicacy of line and color, lack of perspective, and  treatment of the natural world.

 

 

Hokusai, The Wave 

One of the artists most influenced was Vincent van Gogh, who did many paintings in the style of Japanese woodblock prints. 

 

Vincent van Gogh, after Japanese artist Keisai Eisen

Following are woodblock prints by the great Japanese artist Hiroshige and van Gogh’s own interpretations of them.

 

 

(Left--Hiroshige's Thunderstorm; right--van Gogh's The Bridge)

(Plum Blossoms: left, Hiroshige; right, van Gogh)