14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to 29th September 2016 Impressionism? https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 1/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? [https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kxd4N1QTxYs/WBhlWeQoKwI/AAAAAAAAAQU/rEg5cP4zAGYewSmRaBw8Q199X2Nc- skcgCLcB/s1600/2.jpg] From the previous essay [http://yynesqaq.blogspot.hk/2016/10/when-east-meets-west-when-japonism.html] , I demonstrated the origin and development of Japonism as well as drawn a comparison between Japonism and Impressionism. I this passage, I will turn the spotlight on the enchantments of the Japanese taste in Claude Monet’s art. I choose Monet not because he is prominent and well-known in the art history, but because he is a huge fan of Japanese art and culture as he often includes Japanese products as props and emulate Japanese tune of nature expression in paintings. [1] [2] As a Painter who Depict Japanese Culture https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 2/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? [https://1.bp.blogspot.com/- hoR_nIH_8rI/WBhmoKQX3qI/AAAAAAAAAQc/tB0YhBkYMbAVrLScWLVBsPPbkFpYPZGzgCLcB/s1600/1.jpg] Claude Monet. La Japonaise (Camille Monet in Japanese Costume), 1876, Oil on canvas, 231.8 x 142.3 cm (91 1/4 x 56 in.). Lorna and Robert Rosenberg Gallery (Gallery 252), Boston. [http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/la-japonaise- camille-monet-in-japanese-costume-33556] "In this painting, Monet makes reference to the Japanism which was in vogue during the 1860s, and not only in artist circles...Like many of his fellow artists, Monet also had a collection of Japanese kimonos, fans, and screens, which can still be seen and admired in his house in Giverny today. " ----- Sagner-Duchting, K. (1992). The Claude Monet poster book. [3] La Japonaise (Camille Monet in Japanese Costume), probably is one of the most illustrious paintings representing the Western fad for Japonisme. The charming lady in this painting, Monet’s wife, Camille dressed in a splendid cerise kimono with gorgeous and complex flower patterns embroidery, surrounding with a lot of Japanese fans. Composing with large-scale figure painting, “Monet created a virtuoso display of brilliant color that is also a witty comment on the current Paris fad for all things Japanese” [4] According to the art statement in the Museum of Fine Arts, this painting intends to recall the sense of French identity in the community. Camille, with white race are wearing a blond wig but contrast with her Japanese dressing and fans, her act was ironically similar to the Western craze for Japanese features in that time. This interpreted explanation can be still regarded as positive since Monet resonated the social culture at that time. [5] https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 3/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? [https://2 bp blogspot com/ ivqifqKyxrU/WBhm CgFvfI/AAAAAAAAAQg/W56SACQlyQ0Czy5cdpgvhHJd3u https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 4/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? [https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ivqifqKyxrU/WBhm_CgFvfI/AAAAAAAAAQg/W56SACQlyQ0Czy5cdpgvhHJd3u- LZpLrgCLcB/s1600/6.jpg] https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 5/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/- H9aC40bydgE/WBhnAxQm6MI/AAAAAAAAAQk/cnjFkowaokUheGfRI9awphpQXPTK3ilOgCLcB/s1600/7.jpg] “In retrospect, Monet took a critical view of this work (La Japonaise), calling it a concession to the popular taste of its time. Nonetheless, it bears eloquent witness to the fascination which the exotic held for Monet and his contemporaries." ---- Sagner-Duchting, K. (1992). The Claude Monet poster book. [3] But some were given negative comments as well as criticisms. Referring to Dieter Wanczura, the Japanese print specialist, Monet later referred to this painting as “a heap of trash.” [6] Marius Chaumelin, an art critic described the “‘grotesque Japanese’ as making ‘impotent effort’ to disengage himself (Monet) from the robe while the model smilingly mocks his struggles.” Notwithstanding it sounds extreme, it is still reasonable to portray the bubble relationship. La Japonaise painted five years after Monet couple’s marriage while Monet depicted his wife being a Japanese geisha or courtesan ---- the whole image is frivolous and flirtatious. Up to this moment, experts fail to decode the symbolic meanings and implied message behind: some declared that is only a sarcastic joke echoed social phenomenon; but some suggested that is an embarrassing personal predicament and secret expression. Still, La Japonaise is an unsolved mystery. [6] As a Collector who Taste for Japanese Art [https://4.bp.blogspot.com/- hCnWW109aJI/WBhv2289FKI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/CXA7EVrnrcI-BnBjvPCfuWkSwudz5ybTACLcB/s1600/1.jpg] https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 6/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? "If you absolutely must find an affiliation for me, select the Japanese of old times...their aesthetic...evokes a presence by means of shadow and the whole by means of a fragment." ---- Claude Monet, 1909 [3] Nevertheless Monet’s painting, La Japonaise is questionable and contentious to the features of Japanese culture, the fact of the matter is that he kept supplementing his Japanese art collection. Total of 231 prints are collected from 36 artists, but mainly focus on Hokusai, Hioshige and Utamaro. [7] Monet preferred and appreciated the theme of landscapes, daily occupations and animals, yet rebuffed some common objects printed in Japanese xylography such as erotic scenes and portraits of actors. Some may argue that appreciation unequal to inspiration as Monet’s friend, Octave Mirbeau stated “Monet never made any Japonism”. However, I believe his aesthetics on art collection can be projected on the subjects he drawn, the style he painted, the characteristics in his art. For instance, the silence and calmness of the snow as well as those delicate colors of Sandviken Village in the Snow are similar to Japanese print ---- “Though the work attests to the vogue for all things Japanese, we can see why Monet dismissed it later as simply ‘a whim,’ with his other works showing an assimilation of Japanese aesthetic practices at a deeper level.” [8] Perhaps subconsciously, Monet gained inspirations from Japanese Art as he was surrounded by ‘Japanaholic’ society and his Japanese collections. https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 7/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4S9YhR8XOiI/WBhw1qPhAnI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/GM4VLCji3Lk9p1- v1VNX3kBDd3eaAecGwCLcB/s1600/2.jpg] https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 8/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/- RgZdUa6UrvE/WBhw3DuMxvI/AAAAAAAAARA/i8H5im_jvCAC_CxLsaAjzPglrp9AmF0RACLcB/s1600/3.jpg] As a gardener who favour Japanese aesthetic of nature [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/- UECH_85gI1k/WBhx6zqGNoI/AAAAAAAAARM/ltstWc6uFkELaTxULTpPHg8beM8FNVGEACLcB/s1600/4.jpg] https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 9/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4BwAzMCK7Jc/WBhx7geqeUI/AAAAAAAAARQ/ezP1f- D3EBUs_db4xQFLUNrE40V07isKwCLcB/s1600/5.jpg] Descriptions of Japanese features in Monet’s Garden [http://giverny.org/gardens/fcm/visitgb.htm] Moreover, in the famous Monet’s Garden in Giverny, the Japanese Garden Bridge and the Water Garden are the popular subjects that Monet painted so often, just as I stated in my previous article [http://yynesqaq.blogspot.hk/2016/10/when-east-meets-west-when-japonism.html] . In fact, the Japanese artist, Hokusai (his artworks are the targets of Monet’s collections) inspired Monet to paint water lilies beautifully, “Hokusai’s Japanese flower concentration may have been a factor in Monet’s realization that his water lilies would be a fantastic subject for a painting. Hokusai’s flowers did not need landscape as background to make them beautiful. Monet would blend this with his love of the sea to eventually create paintings of only his water lilies and the water.” [5] https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 10/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? [https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5zgFVJmlMDQ/WBhyvGRt4CI/AAAAAAAAARY/iEQiMWDdx8s7y0Vzo3sszDKWCGtJ4zOLwCLcB/s 1600/3.jpg] Claude Monet.The Japanese Footbridge, 1899¸oil on canvas, 81.3 x 101.6 cm (32 x 40 in.). National Gallery of Art. Washington, DC. [http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/highlights/highlight74796.html] References [1] Visual Art Encyclopaedia, s. v. “Japonism”, Accessed in September 26 2016, http://www.visual-arts- cork.com/history-of-art/japonism.htm. [2] “About Impressionism.” Impressionism.org. http://www.impressionism.org/teachimpress/browse/aboutimpress.htm. Accessed in September 26 2016. [3] "Japanese Influence on European Art ." North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts. https://ntieva.unt.edu/download/teaching/Curr_resources/mutli_culture/Japan/Influences/Japanese%20Influences% https://yynesqaq.blogspot.my/2016/11/did-claude-monet-lend-japanese-glamour.html 11/12 14/11/2017 Did Claude Monet Lend Japanese Glamour to Impressionism? 20on%20European%20Art.pdf. Accessed in September 28 2016. [4]“La Japonaise (Camille Monet in Japanese Costume).” Museum of Fine Arts Boston. http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/la-japonaise-camille-monet-in-japanese-costume-33556. Accessed in September 26 2016. [5] “Hokusai's Influence on Monet.” C. Monet Gallery. http://www.cmonetgallery.com/hokusai.aspx. Accessed in September 28 2016. [6] Gedo, Mary Mathews. Monet and His Muse: Camille Monet in the Artist's Life. [7] "Monet's collection of Japanese WoodBlocks.” Claude Monet Life and Art.