Essay: Japonism

Hokusai - Great wave off Kanagawa

Recreations
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVH07f5KOorPNw-d6LSwsldHHUpQqCDnnYRRzEuOTmpys-BqD4a6HJo3yuD0q0NEnsCE5o3mLrEmyaxTWscsbx9AoDTpcm0LnDmqTOo9WndWE4qnprdKRuprEwYMMk3EYu-2KVLMLhfPE/s1600/Great+Wave+2011_OilStick_1.JPG

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Van Gogh and Hiroshige

 http://www.awesome-art.biz/Awesome/images/medium-vg2/Japonese%20tree%20(after%20Hiroshige%20by%20Van%20Gogh.jpg

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hiroshige/plum.jpg

A sea of Japanese art washed over Europe towards the second half of the 19^th century after japan reopened its borders for trading after 200 years of being shut off from Europe. Around the late 1630s religion was becoming more and more common in Spain and Portugal, so as a way to isolate itself from religious and colonial influences which were thought to pose a threat to the Shogunate’s stability, Japan closed itself off to trade with outside countries. Between 1639 and 1853 Japan only traded with China and Korea, which had severely limited trading, and with the Dutch, who were the only part of Europe they did trade with.

During this time because Japan had very little interaction with foreign countries, it strengthened culture and also brought great prosperity both socially and economically. People were more inclined to pursue activities they found pleasurable, such as painting. This build-up of new artists in a period of unprecedented peace and stability helped to create their own unique style free from outside influences.

After over 200 years of this self-imposed exclusion and many attempts by outside forces trying to bridge a trading path between Japanese shores and the west, U.S. Navy’s Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 took four warships known as The Black Ships (Named Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga and Susquehanna) to the Bay of Edo in Tokyo to demand Japan re-establishes western trade connections. This lead to the first treaty the year after with the west, “The Treaty of Peace and Amity” with the U.S. which then paved the way for others to follow, starting with “The Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty” with the United Kingdom at the end of the year, and many other western countries in the five consecutive years.

When trading finally resumed in 1853 a flood of Japanese art travelled to Europe, with Paris being the main hotspot for art at the time. Similar to 1922 when King Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered, there was a massive surge in people wanting to collect art. Instead of Egyptian art though, wood block prints, fans and anything related to Japanese culture became people’s obsession.

This was amplified during and after an exhibition in France in 1862, where Japanese stalls introduced prints and objects to the general public. It was all new and exciting to Europeans, and generated popularity quickly.