Japonism is the term used to describe the influence of Japanese art on Western art. The origin of this word is disputed: according to some, it comes from Julies Claretie in her book L'Art Francais in 1872, published that same year, while others argue that Zola was the first to coin this term.
Japonism began with the arrival of Japanese prints, called ukiyo-e, in Paris. Specifically, ukiyo-e is the technique of polychrome engraving, which was characterized by the capture of spontaneous scenes, something that would fascinate French Impressionist artists.
In these scenes, the figure of the geisha played a considerable role, as well as in other artistic manifestations such as literature or opera. In the same way, the representation of kabuki actors (a form of Japanese theater), sumo wrestlers, chonin (Japanese bourgeoisie) or samurai is notable.
It should be noted that in the middle of the 19th century, Japan opened its borders for commercial exchange, which facilitated the arrival of Japanese art in the West. The universal exhibitions that took place at that time, such as the one in London in 1862 or the one in Paris in 1867, helped to spread it. In this latest exhibition, the Japanese selection was a revelation for Morris and his student Arthur Lasenby Liberty, who later founded a decoration shop based on objects from the Far East.
With this exhibition, the art of Japonism would be consolidated. In 1868 the magazine La Vida Parisina published an article on “the fashion of Japonism” and, a year later, Ernst Chesnau published a book dedicated exclusively to Japanese art: L'art Japonais.
Another highly effective means of disseminating Japaneseism were illustrated magazines that accompanied their texts with engravings and photographs. In 1888, Samuel Bing founded the art magazine Le Japon Artistique, created at a time when Japonism was spreading massively and people were demanding more information about this movement. Two years later, Bing organized the first major ukiyo-e retrospective exhibition at the National School of Fine Arts, when there were already great collectors of Japanese prints, such as Monet.
Sue-Hee Kim Lee, responsible for an excellent research work on the influence of extreme eastern art in Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, argues that among the artistic objects that reached Europe, Japanese prints became the object most appreciated and collected by the literati and artists, due to the curiosity for a different civilization or for the different techniques or themes of western painting. Juan Ramón Jiménez, a connoisseur of Utamaro's engravings, spoke of them as the painting of anemic landscapes, of discolored interiors with crushed figures.
