A new exhibit in the RISD Museum's Japanese gallery, "Japonisme: Japanese Prints and Their Influence in France," brings to light a more subtle aspect of Impressionism - its adaptation of the Japanese aesthetic.
Japan's ports were opened to trade with the West in 1854 after over 200 years of a strictly isolationist policy. Once the market was cracked open, Japanese culture began to flood into Europe in the 1860s and 70s - the beginning of the Impress-ionist movement. The term "Japon-isme," coined in 1872 by art critic Philippe Burty, refers to the influence that this sudden flood of imported Japanese culture had on Western art.
To explore this cultural exchange, the exhibit features Japanese prints from the museum's permanent collection that were chosen to illustrate the elements borrowed by 19th century Western art, said Deborah Del Gais, curator of Asian Art at the RISD Museum.
"When we decided Degas was opening, we thought we could do a show of Japanese prints at the same time and choose selections that talk about what attracted Degas and other Impressionists to Japanese art," she said.
Japanese art became important in Paris, the home of most Impressionist artists, in the 1870s. Japanese prints were sold in antique shops across the city and many artists convened at these shops to examine and buy this new exotic art, Del Gais said.
Many Impressionists, including Degas, owned quite large collections of Japanese prints, she said. In fact, the exhibit displays a copy of the first comprehensive history of Japanese art, "L'art japonaise" that was owned by Impressionist art critic Théodore Duret.
"Japonisme" first appears in the decorative arts. A beautiful ceramic plate in the exhibit, "Plate from the 'Rousseau' service," is one of the first examples of how Western decorative designs evolved based on Japanese imagery and style.
It was not until later that Japanese art affected the work of Impressionists like Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, James Jacques Tissot, Mary Cassatt and Claude Monet. Each artist chose to incorporate very different aspects of the Japanese aesthetic, Del Gais said. Monet, for instance, made explicit references to Japanese subject matter in his depiction of bridges like those in Japanese prints, she said. This type of bridge figures prominently in several prints in the show.
According to Del Gais, other artists directly incorporated Japanese works into the background of their own paintings. One of the prints in the exhibit, "The Pearl Diver with the Magic Crystal Pursued by the Dragon King" by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, is depicted in the background of Edouard Manet's painting "Le Repos," on display downstairs in the French Impressionist Gallery. The print was acquired for this particular "Japonisme" exhibit a few months ago and represents a widely known Japanese myth about a pearl diver rescuing a magic crystal for a Japanese statesman, Del Gais said.
Degas' interest in Japanese work was more intellectual and subtle. He borrowed elements of Japanese perspective and scale that were very different from prevailing Western models, Del Gais said. Degas' use of cut-off asymmetrical figures in his "Six Friends at Dieppe" is common in Japanese prints.
Japanese subject matter also influenced Degas in his depictions of women bathers, Del Gais said. In Japanese prints, women were frequently shown in informal situations and in twisted, unusual poses, much like Degas' bathing women, she said. In the museum's show, "Manga," a printed book by Katsushika Hokusai, demonstrates the varied female poses prominent in Japanese art. The book is opened to a specific page of sketches of various figures, some of which are bathing.
While "Japonisme" is up a flight of stairs from the much more advertised Degas show, it does display some noteworthy works that make the walk well worth it.
"Japonisme" is on view at the RISD Museum through Feb. 12, 2006. Admission is free for Brown students with an ID.
