Monet, Gauguin, van Gogh … Japanese inspirations

Japanese art is of fundamental importance for the development of modern art in Europe. Nearly all of the great masters—from Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh to Pierre Bonnard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Édouard Vuillard—abandoned themselves to the charm of Japanese pictorial motifs and stylistic devices, taking them as inspiration for their own work. Even Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso still exhibited great interest in Japan well into the twentieth century. With Monet, Gauguin, Van Gogh … Japanese Inspirations, Museum Folkwang is devoting the first major exhibition in more than twenty-five years to one of the most fascinating chapters of French art in the second half of the 19th century, known as Japonisme. The show focuses on the period between 1860 and 1910, the development and heyday of the craze for Japanese art in France. The current exhibition presents different types of artistic discourse with Japan on the basis of major works by the most important artists of the time. Alongside paintings and prints of artists active in France such as Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, the show will also present an extensive selection of Japanese color woodcut prints by Utagawa Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro and others. Japanese artefacts are likewise juxtaposed with works by French artists such as Félix Bracquemond, Jean Carriès or Émile Gallé to allow an inspiring dialogue to ensue. Featuring essays by well-known authors as well as younger scholars, the comprehensively illustrated catalogue sheds light on the most important aspects of this formative epoch and the productive exploration of Japan embarked upon by artists living and working in France. Exhibition: Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, 27 September 2014 to 18 January 2015