The Influence Of Japanese Prints On The French Art Question & Answer Examples

The trade deals between Japan and Europe facilitated the entrance of Japanese prints, the ukiyo-e, in the Western world. In 1849 the first Japanese prints, belonging to Hokusai entered the West, sometime after the death of the Japanese artist. Nevertheless, the first recognizance of the Japanese influence in French art was marked by the Exposition Universelle from 1867, hosted at Champs de Mars, in Paris. Although Hokusai’s art was not much appreciated in Japan, where other, more elevated painting styles were preferred, the artist’s work found appreciation in French art, where it has become influential for reputable painters like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt or Toulouse Lautrec. The Japanese prints influenced French artist in terms of color and lines, character shape and graphic art.
Hokusai’s Prussian blue ink has inspired the modernist and impressionist painting, being influential for French artists like Monet, and others who followed his legacy. Monet was inspired by Hokusai’s prints, specifically in the way the Japanese artist used color and line to delineate space, which was a revolutionary technique in the Western artistic world. The Japanese painter inspired Monet’s landscapes, and some of his popular paintings, such as the ones depicting Rouen Cathedral, Waterloo Bridge or his Giverny garden. Indirectly, through Monet’s art, Hokusai’s prints inspired other impressionist painters, who followed the artistic line of Monet. The diffuse colors of the Waterloo Bridge, and the shades of blue that are used to convey the landscape make use of Hokusai’s Prussian blue ink, depicted in Hokusai’s Kanagawa.
Another important area through which the Japanese prints influenced the French artists is through the rendering of human forms. In his manga, Hokusai used this particular technique for depicting the shapes of fish, sumo wrestlers or geisha. Edgar Degas was inspired by this technique and used Hokusai’s rendering for depicting the shapes of women, their silhouettes, with shoulders and curved backs or profile. With this approach, Degas attempted a look inside the women’s personal experiences, by focusing on their angles and posture in different circumstances. An emblematic art work that reflects Hokusai’s manga in Degas’ work is the two-dimensional painting “The Tub”, hosted at Musee D’Orsay, wherein a woman exposes her nudity, and the artist focuses on how her back curves as she leans down, with a slight capture of her left breast and cheek, from the profile.
Yet another major influence of the Japanese prints on the French artists was in terms of graphic arts. This artistic expression was considered a secondary form of art before the arrival of the Japanese prints in Japan. This event has marked acknowledgment that graphic art, namely the art of creating posters and color prints, has an intense artistic value. Mary Cassatt and Toulouse Lautrec were inspired by Hokusai’s manga. Cassatt was a fervent advocate of Hokusai’s art, encouraging the popularization of his technique in the graphic art in the French society. Furthermore, Toulouse Lautrec was deeply inspired by the Oriental figures in creating the frail portraits of the cabaret dancers from the Parisian night clubs that he frequented. Hokusai’s ukiyo-e inspired Lautrec to use solid colors on large panels, while creating the images of the delicate and flimsy dancers in Orientalized profiles.