Customer Reviews

Japonisme: The Japanese Influence on Western Art in the 19th and 20th Century

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For anyone interested in both Japanese Art and European Art at the turn of the last century, this book will become the most satisfying reference book in your collection.

"Japonisme" is the term used to describe the Victorian fascination with all things Japanese. Wichmann's book successfully demonstrates the influence of this fascination on the fine art of the era. Lavishly illustrated with over a thousand images, Wichmann's essays are informed both historically and artistically on the detailed ins and outs of the sharing of the two cultures of East and West. Topics include the Asian influence in composition, pictoral space, design, choice of material, and subject matter in the visual art and architechture of turn of the century fin de siecle Europe and America. Visual examples are given from a wealth of artists including Van Gogh, Manet, Cassatt, Whistler, Degas, Mucha, Klimt, the architechs Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, and Japanese artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai, just to name a few.

Being a visual artist from the west trained in the Western tradition and yet fascinated with Japanese fine art and in particular the tradition of ukiyo-e, discovering this book for me was like finding the holy grail, a book filled to the brim with stunning visual compromises between the traditions of East and West from which to take my own influences. Fantastic.

I ordered this book mainly because of my fascination with a blog by the same name. Here is a link to the blog "Japonisme" http://lotusgreenfotos.blogspot.com/ . I ordered my book "used, but in excellent condition". Its appearance is like any book that I have had for a few weeks. With 1105 illustrations and 432 large (10" x 12") pages I still haven't read it all.
The layout of the book really helps a novice like me to understand the influence of Japanese art on the West. Wonderful western images that capture the spirit of the Japonisme but don't copy them are abundantly reproduced in black and white and in color. Japanese images from gardens to tea bowls place no one technique over any other as long as the result is beautiful. Each wood block print is carefully calculated to achieve the most impact within a confined area. In all designs are based on nature, but don't replicate it.
I will be looking at this book for years, reading, looking at the illustrations and just enjoying it.

This is probably the best and most beautiful art-book I have ever read. I traces the roots of different western artforms like impressionism and abstract expressionism from the japanese traditions of brushpainting an calligraphy.. -I want it!

This beautiful book really opened my mind to the influence that Japanese art had on the Impressionist movement. Some very interesting comparisons of woodblocks and the work of Van Gogh.....Wow...It had never occurred to me before & to see the works side by side is fascinating. I first found this book in the school library & kept borrowing it; such wonderful images.I decided I had to own a copy & made my first Amazon.com purchase. Great service, Amazon, thank you....so quick & efficient. This book is great value and very well illustrated. The text is extremely interesting and thought provoking.

This truly is a wonderful book, comprehensive, informative, revelatory, my only gripe is that I have a big problem with art books that are predominantly black and white. I would rather pay a few extra dollars to have all the images reproduced in colour because I feel that an image is greatly reduced by reproducing it in black and white. Look at the notes above it says 1100 images 243 in colour (that is very few). I would love to see a new, updated edition of this wonderful tome in full colour.

The collection of images here is a sensuous synthesis of art and design. Elegant, decorative, poetic, stylized . . . Asian art (not just Japanese art) is shown to be a source and inspiration of much 19th & 20th century European tradition, but especially, Asian art is shown, period. Paintings, screens, textiles, prints, carvings, ceramics . . .this is a treasure trove. The question I have about it is the implied (well, maybe overt) focus on the west, through the presentation of Asian images largely in the context of their sometimes too derivative European emulations. Maybe it should be the other way around. But never mind. The comparisons are fascinating, the art is lyrical, and whether it's Hiroshige or van Gogh, Japanese textiles or Art Nouveau, pattern or painting, you can't stop turning the pages. A fantastic resource for designers.

Exquisite book, most comprehensive I have seen on this subject. Worth ten times over the Amazon price!