East and West Intersections: Japonisme

The Topic:

Study of Eastern and Western intersections has concentrated on the transformation of Japanese art when Western influences flooded into the country upon its forced opening by Commidore William Perry in the 1850s, and how the exportation of ukiyo-e woodblock prints influenced Western art at the time and in the decades following. The Impressionists and Postimpressionists were heavily influenced by ukiyo-e, as is evident in the works of artists including Degas, Mary Cassatt, Van Gogh, Monet, Whistler, and Toulouse-Lautrec. However, East and West have continued to interact with one another, and art in later periods was also transformed. The influence of East (Japan) upon West (Europe) was referred to as Japonisme, and that is the aspect of Eastern and Western interaction upon which this bibliography concentrates.

Bibliography taken from: Intersections: Japanese Art and the West: A Teacher’s Guide. Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2006.

Arnold, Matthias. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 1864 – 1901: the Theater of Life. Los Angeles: Taschen, 2000.

Berman, Avis. First Impressions: James McNeill Whistler. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1993.

Freches, Claire, and Jose Fresches. Toulouse-Lautrec: Scenes of the Night. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994.

Frey, Julia. Toulouse-Lautrec: A Life. London: Phoenix Giants, 1999.

Greenberg, Jan and Sandra Jordan. Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist. New York: Delacorte, 2001.

Hobbs, Jack, and Richard Salome. The Visual Experience. Worchester, MA: Davis, 1991.

Perkins, David. The Intelligent Eye: Learning to Think by Looking at Art. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 1994.

Stanley-Baker, Joan. Japanese Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.

Sullivan, Michael. The Meeting of Eastern and Western Art. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997.

Varley, Paul. Japanese Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, 2000.

Varnedoe, Kirk. A Fine Disregard: what Makes Modern Art Modern. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990.

Yamada, Chisaburoh F., ed. Dialogue in Art: Japan and the West. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1976.

Yonemura, Ann. Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints in the Ann van Biema Collection. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2002.