Japonisme Artist. Japonism is the study of Japanese art and artistic talent.
Japonism affected fine arts, sculpture, architecture, performing arts and decorative arts throughout Western culture. The term is used particularly to refer to Japanese influence on European art, especially in impressionism.
Japonism was first described by French art critic and collector Philippe Burty in 1872. From the 1860s, ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock prints, became a source of inspiration for many Western artists.
Ukiyo-e began as a Japanese painting school developed in the 17th century. Ukiyo-e woodblock prints were created to fit a demand for inexpensive, souvenir images.
Although the prints were inexpensive, they were innovative and technical which gave each one value. These prints were rarely created with a single patron in mind, rather they were created for the commercial market in Japan. Although a percentage of prints were brought to the West through Dutch trade merchants, it was not until the 1860s that ukiyo-e prints gained popularity in Europe. Western artists were intrigued by the original use of color and composition. Ukiyo-e prints featured dramatic foreshortening and asymmetrical compositions. During the Edo period, Japan was in a period of seclusion and only one international port remained active. Tokugawa Iemitsu ordered that an island, Dejima, be built off the shores of Nagasaki from which Japan cou