Japonisme: The Japanese Influence on Western Art Since 1858 [Paperback]

Siegfried Wichmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 1999

"An important phase in the history of decorative arts is here given authoritative treatment."—Interior Design

The impact of Japan on Western art was as immediate and almost as cataclysmic as the influence of the West on Japanese life. After Commodore Perry opened Japan's door to the outside world in1858—ending a 200-year period of total isolation—a wealth of visual information from the superb Japanese traditions of ceramics, metalwork, architecture, printmaking, and painting reached the West and brought with it electrifying new ideas of composition, color, and design.

One has only to see a celebrated painting by Monet, Degas, Whistler, or van Gogh, a print by Toulouse-Lautrec, an Art Nouveau glass vase, or a lacquered hair comb side by side with its Japanese source to see how these ideas have inspired European artists. Nor is the influence a superficial one: Japanese conventions of symbolism underlie the use of decorative motifs in European Symbolism and Art Nouveau, and the Zen idea of spontaneity is the ultimate source of both the apparently capricious shapes of Art Nouveau objects and the development of an abstract "calligraphy" in Abstract Expressionism.

Siegfried Wichmann, the acknowledged expert on Japonisme, accompanies the breathtaking illustrations with a text that organizes a wealth of detail and opens up new lines of inquiry. 1,105 illustrations, 243 in color.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

German historian and art curator Wichmann chronicles Japan's tremendous influence on the greats of 19th- and 20th-century art. His text is buttressed by more than 1100 illustrations, including 243 in color.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

An outstanding publication...may be viewed, read, and valued on many levels. -- School Arts

Monumental, encyclopaedic, and copiously illustrated. -- Art in America

Monumental, encyclopedic, and copiously illustrated. -- Art in America

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (November 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500281637
• ISBN-13: 978-0500281635
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 10.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My holy grail, May 16, 2000

By 

"liz2" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japonisme: The Japanese Influence on Western Art Since 1858 (Paperback)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning to See, July 28, 2008

By 

Dorothy Markert (Hamburg, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Japonisme: The Japanese Influence on Western Art Since 1858 (Paperback)

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.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About Japonisme, July 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Japonisme: The Japanese Influence on Western Art in the 19th and 20th Century (Hardcover)

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!