Bold colors, uses of cropping, and collages of culture pop out from various canvases in Europe in the late 1800s. After Japan opened up its trading ports in 1854, its culture exploded into Europe through trade.The embracing of Japanese art and culture in Europe created the movement known as Japonisme. Many people flocked to collect woodblock prints, clothing, accessories, fans, and other Japanese commodities. Many artists, especially the Impressionists, thought that Japanese art was more refined and tasteful than their current art. Japanese woodblock prints had flat, non-shaded colors, bold contour lines, landscapes full of movement, and used cropping—a newer concept that did not come about in Europe until cameras were created. Cameras could instantly flatten any scene and cut out certain objects in a dynamic way that our natural eyes don't do. The flatness of the prints was something fascinating to the European artists due to the constant pushes of naturalistic illusions and perspectives seen throughout the history of Western art. Previous Western art preferred detailed, naturalistic colors and rendering. The Impressionists were already breaking out of those color constraints on their own, making the uniqueness of the Japanese prints more intriguing. Cropping was not something done often in European art because cutting out parts of objects felt incomplete. Japonisme pushed the boundaries of what was previously done in Western art and shaped many of the ways art was created from then on. While looking at this exhibit, try to see how bold lines, patterns, cropping, woodblock color schemes, or elements of Japanese culture are involved!
Kubo Shunman, Ceremonial Things for the Celebration of Setting up a New House, 19th century, woodblock print with ink and color on paper, (20 x 18.4 cm), Japan. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. JP2137
This piece of work is our resident Japanese artwork. The colors are very traditionally flat and the contour lines are very precise. The piece also has an asymmetrical composition and very abrupt cropping on either side of the image. The strong usage of red, blue, yellow, and green are recurring themes throughout most Japanese art. Everything is also rendered in a way that seems flat, there being no shading on things that would otherwise be rendered as 3-dimensional. This can be used as a reference point in some comparisons to the other artworks in this gallery.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Divan Japonais, 1892-93. Lithograph printed in four colors, wove paper. Classified as a print or poster. (80.8 x 60.8 cm.) France. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 58.621.17
This piece was created by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to be a poster for a cafe that often put on concerts and performances. The piece shows two famous performers: Yvette Guilbert (the headless woman in the background with the black gloves) and Henri’s close friend Jane Avril (the woman in black sitting down). While these two women had not performed in the Divan Japonais concert, the use of famous actresses in the poster lured in potential audiences— showing them that there is a chance of them seeing these famous people if they come to the performance.
Henri Riviére, André Marty, Edward Ancourt, The Wave (La Vague), from “L’Estampe Originale,” 1893. (image: 29.2 x 46 cm. Sheet: 40.6 x 57 cm.) France. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 22.82.1-38
This piece may look like a traditional Japanese wood block print at first, but it was made by three french artists. Reviére was the creator of the design, Marty was the publisher, and Ancourt was the printer. Reviėre portrays the dramatic moment where a wave hits some large rocks, spraying seafoam everywhere. He studied Japanese prints and replicated the looks in his own works. Does this painting remind you of any Japanese prints you may have seen before?
Claude Monet, Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, 1899, oil on canvas, (92.7 x 73.7 cm). France. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 29.100.113
This painting is part of a series of eighteen (though only twelve were completed), and is one of the views of Monet’s beloved garden. Monet built the garden on his property with many exotic flowers and trees. The Japanese-style footbridge is a large emphasis of many of the paintings in the series, gracefully making its way across the canvas. The bold uses of complimentary colors like green and red cause striking color vibrations and unify the piece. This painting was specifically made to be vertical to put more emphasis on the lilies and the reflection rather than the bridge alone.
Henri Somm, Japonisme, 1881, Drypoint. (Plate: 24.1 x 31.9cm. Sheet: 27.4 x 36.6 cm. Mat 40.6 x 50.8 cm) France. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 67.539.201
This piece by Henri Somm portrays a scene of a woman daydreaming and imagining what Japan is like. There is a fantasization of Japanese men with lanterns, standing on papers that could be ancient documents or prints, and fanning her in a welcoming way. The Japan shown here seems to make Japan look like an exotic getaway for Europeans, and Somm seems to portray Japan through a lens of orientalism. Many Europeans who never visited Japan often came up with ideas about it through the various objects they bought from the trade with the Japanese.
Alfred Stevens, The Japanese Robe, 1872, Oil on canvas. (92.7 x 63.8 cm). Belgium. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 87.15.56
This painting is a snapshot into a private scene of a woman admiring herself in a mirror. The model for the woman was Stevens’ sister-in-law. It joins the traditional, casual paintings of the everyday with the societal trends of their day. Stevens kept the fan and the kimono in his studio as props for his other paintings as well. Because the title is named specifically after the robe instead of the woman, it is presenting her as if she's a fashion model, showing off Japanese garments.
Edgar Degas, The Dance Class, 1874, Oil on canvas, (83.5 x 77.2 cm). France. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 1987.47.1
The hints of Japonisme are a little harder to find in this painting at first glance. But as you look at it, try to note the compositional choices and colors. Degas also enjoyed his fair share of woodblock prints as much as any other French impressionist of the time did. Degas enjoyed collecting the prints and also was a photographer, cropping becoming a large part of his art. Many of Degas’ works focused on dancers and traditionally western subjects, but he typically wove in very Japanese styles of cropping, asymmetrical compositions, and colors.
References
“Alfred Stevens - the Japanese Robe - the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” 2026. Metmuseum.org.
2026. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437756.
“Divan Japonais.” 2020. Metmuseum.org. 2020.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/334197.
“Divan Japonais.” n.d. The Art Institute of Chicago.
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/67166/divan-japonais.
“Henri Rivière - the Wave (La Vague), from ‘L’Estampe Originale’ - the Metropolitan Museum
of Art.” 2026. Metmuseum.org. 2026. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/662140.
“Henri Somm - Japonisme - the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” 2026. Metmuseum.org. 2026. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/399200.
Irvine, Gregory, Nasser D. Khalili, Axel Rüger, Hiroko Kurokawa, Tayfun Belgin, John House,
and Kris Schiermeier. Japonisme and the Rise of the Modern Art Movement : The Arts of the Meiji Period : The Khalili Collection. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2013.
“Kubo Shunman - Ceremonial Things for the Celebration of Setting up a New House - Japan - Edo Period (1615–1868) - the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” 2026. Metmuseum.org. 2026. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/54992.
The Met. 2019. “Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies.” Metmuseum.org. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art. 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437127.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1874. “The Dance Class.” Metmuseum.org. 1874. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438817.
Wichmann, Siegfried. The Japanese influence on Western art since 1858: Japonisme: London: Thames & Hudson, 1981
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