The Flowering Plum Tree (after Hiroshige)
1887
Oil on canvas
55 x 46 cm.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
1887
Oil on canvas
55 x 46 cm.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
(adapted from an article in Antiques and Fine Art magazine)
"Van Gogh's early paintings were predominately dark and sombre scenes of peasant life, but when he moved to Paris to live with Theo (his brother) in 1886, he discovered how much he loved the delightful rich colors of Japanese prints. Van Gogh admired this graphic art so much that he made three paintings based on prints of Keisai Eisen (1790-1848) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). In 1888 he moved to Arles, from where, on 15 July, he wrote to Theo "All my work is based to some extent on Japanese art." Van Gogh's admiration for Japanese art became something of a religion for him. As he saw it, if modern art were to have a future, it must look toward, and indeed, be totally inspired by, the art of Japan. "For my part I don’t need Japanese pictures here, for I am always telling myself that here I am in Japan," he wrote from Arles. He observed everything around him as if it were "through Japanese eyes," and in this way noticed the tiniest details in the natural setting."
The video below does a good job of briefly explaining the characteristics of Japanese woodblock prints that van Gogh was so inspired by:
(adapted from http://www.artelino.com/articles/van_gogh_japonisme.asp)
With the treaty of Kanagawa in 1854 between the American delegation headed by Navy commander Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794-1858) and the Japanese shogunate government, a period of 216 years of Japanese isolation ended. In the years following, huge numbers of Japanese artifacts and handicraft articles flowed to Europe, mainly to France and the Netherlands. The Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867 had a Japanese stand and showed Japanese art objects to the amazed public.
All things Japanese were suddenly stylish and fashionable. Shops selling Japanese woodblock prints, kimonos, fans and antiquities popped up in Paris like mushrooms. The Impressionist painters and Post-Impressionists like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec or Paul Gauguin were attracted and impressed by Japanese woodblock prints. In 1875 Claude Monet created his famous painting La Japonaise, showing his wife dressed in a Kimono and holding a Japanese fan.
The term Japonisme was created by the French journalist and art-critic Philippe Burty in an article published in 1876 to describe the craze for all things Japanese.
Van Gogh saw Japanese prints for the first time in 1885 in Antwerp and bought a few. In the years ahead he would buy many more. Japanese prints were cheap at that time. Many were reproductions made only for export to Western countries.
In 1886 Vincent van Gogh moved to Paris. Van Gogh's brother Theo ran an art gallery in Montmartre. He too brought Vincent in contact with ukiyo-e. In Montmartre there was a little shop with Japanese prints, called the Bing Gallery after its owner Samuel Bing. Mr. Bing kept thousands of Japanese prints on stock. The Bing Gallery was next to van Gogh's apartment and Vincent spent days in the shop and became an avid collector of ukiyo-e.
Van Gogh's admiration for Japanese art forms led him to paint copies of two famous designs of Hiroshige, the great Japanese landscape printmaker. These two paintings after Hiroshige are rather free transcriptions; Vincent added frames to the originals and decorated them with what he considered to be Japanese characters. And van Gogh's use of colors was not very close to the originals. Instead he used his concept of complementary colors like the green against the red.
"I envy the Japanese artists for the incredible neat clarity which all their works have. It is never boring and you never get the impression that they work in a hurry. It is as simple as breathing; they draw a figure with a couple of strokes with such an unfailing easiness as if it were as easy as buttoning one's waist-coat." In 1888 Vincent van Gogh moved to Arles in Southern France. He arrived in springtime and the strong colors and the light of the landscape gave him new energies. He painted continuously - landscapes, still life and portraits of ordinary people. The influence of Japonisme is obvious in his paintings. The use of black contours is a typical element of Japanese woodblock prints. It reinforced the expressive power of the paintings of his last 4 years.
With the treaty of Kanagawa in 1854 between the American delegation headed by Navy commander Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794-1858) and the Japanese shogunate government, a period of 216 years of Japanese isolation ended. In the years following, huge numbers of Japanese artifacts and handicraft articles flowed to Europe, mainly to France and the Netherlands. The Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867 had a Japanese stand and showed Japanese art objects to the amazed public.
All things Japanese were suddenly stylish and fashionable. Shops selling Japanese woodblock prints, kimonos, fans and antiquities popped up in Paris like mushrooms. The Impressionist painters and Post-Impressionists like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec or Paul Gauguin were attracted and impressed by Japanese woodblock prints. In 1875 Claude Monet created his famous painting La Japonaise, showing his wife dressed in a Kimono and holding a Japanese fan.
The term Japonisme was created by the French journalist and art-critic Philippe Burty in an article published in 1876 to describe the craze for all things Japanese.
Van Gogh saw Japanese prints for the first time in 1885 in Antwerp and bought a few. In the years ahead he would buy many more. Japanese prints were cheap at that time. Many were reproductions made only for export to Western countries.
In 1886 Vincent van Gogh moved to Paris. Van Gogh's brother Theo ran an art gallery in Montmartre. He too brought Vincent in contact with ukiyo-e. In Montmartre there was a little shop with Japanese prints, called the Bing Gallery after its owner Samuel Bing. Mr. Bing kept thousands of Japanese prints on stock. The Bing Gallery was next to van Gogh's apartment and Vincent spent days in the shop and became an avid collector of ukiyo-e.
Van Gogh's admiration for Japanese art forms led him to paint copies of two famous designs of Hiroshige, the great Japanese landscape printmaker. These two paintings after Hiroshige are rather free transcriptions; Vincent added frames to the originals and decorated them with what he considered to be Japanese characters. And van Gogh's use of colors was not very close to the originals. Instead he used his concept of complementary colors like the green against the red.
"I envy the Japanese artists for the incredible neat clarity which all their works have. It is never boring and you never get the impression that they work in a hurry. It is as simple as breathing; they draw a figure with a couple of strokes with such an unfailing easiness as if it were as easy as buttoning one's waist-coat." In 1888 Vincent van Gogh moved to Arles in Southern France. He arrived in springtime and the strong colors and the light of the landscape gave him new energies. He painted continuously - landscapes, still life and portraits of ordinary people. The influence of Japonisme is obvious in his paintings. The use of black contours is a typical element of Japanese woodblock prints. It reinforced the expressive power of the paintings of his last 4 years.
The video below has no narration but shows side-by-side comparisons of Japanese prints and van Gogh's own work. Notice the similarities and differences:
AFTER CAREFULLY REVIEWING THE RESOURCES ASSIGNED ABOVE: Answer the following questions completely and with specificity to the provided resources, notes taken, personal reflection, and additional research as needed. Make sure to consider how this information is relevant to your current work and practice.
1. What event perpetuated the influx of Japanese art to Europe and beyond after it had been excluded from public view for so long? (after you write write your answer, just think about this....how fascinating is it that this political/historical event SO dramatically changed the art world???!!!).
2. List at least FOUR specific influences that van Gogh adapted from the Japanese printmakers whom he so admired.
3. Respond to this quote by van Gogh: "I envy the Japanese artists for the incredible neat clarity which all their works have. It is never boring and you never get the impression that they work in a hurry. It is as simple as breathing; they draw a figure with a couple of strokes with such an unfailing easiness as if it were as easy as buttoning one's waist-coat."
1. What event perpetuated the influx of Japanese art to Europe and beyond after it had been excluded from public view for so long? (after you write write your answer, just think about this....how fascinating is it that this political/historical event SO dramatically changed the art world???!!!).
2. List at least FOUR specific influences that van Gogh adapted from the Japanese printmakers whom he so admired.
3. Respond to this quote by van Gogh: "I envy the Japanese artists for the incredible neat clarity which all their works have. It is never boring and you never get the impression that they work in a hurry. It is as simple as breathing; they draw a figure with a couple of strokes with such an unfailing easiness as if it were as easy as buttoning one's waist-coat."
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