Cultures from around the world have had much influence on European and Western art. In this section, you will find pages dedicated to comparing art from cultures from Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Americas, and Islamic traditions to traditional correlations in European and Western Art. Below are a couple of examples of how artworks from Africa, Asia, and the Art of Islam have impacted individual artists and entire movements in European and Western Art history.
The Influence of the Japanese Print on Impressionism and Post Impressionism
Japanese printmaking beginning in the 18th century had a major impact on artists in Europe during the 19th century, primarily artists in France, working during the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods. The printmaking style in Japan in the 18th century was dominated by the Ukiyo-e style, or "pictures of the floating world", referring to Japan under the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and shogun military power, which essentially isolated Japan form the rest of the world. These prints were small, postcard-like images that were used as advertisements, but also incorporated the traditional Japanese reverence to landscape and nature.
The Ukiyo-e style became more elaborate, incorporating multiple blocks and a greater variety of colors. The print would begin with a black outline, from a key block, the print from this block would be lined up with other blocks that were used for the addition of each color.
By the 19th century, these prints were becoming known in Europe, with the popularity of a primary Japanese print maker, Katsushika Hokusai. Avant-garde artists in Europe began to borrow elements of design such as line, color, and pattern, as well as compositional elements from these prints. This fascination with the Japanese print by artists in Europe is termed Japonisme. Artists involved in this influence include Pierre Bonnard, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Edouard Manet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Cezanne, and most directly, Vincent Van Gogh.
By the 19th century, these prints were becoming known in Europe, with the popularity of a primary Japanese print maker, Katsushika Hokusai. Avant-garde artists in Europe began to borrow elements of design such as line, color, and pattern, as well as compositional elements from these prints. This fascination with the Japanese print by artists in Europe is termed Japonisme. Artists involved in this influence include Pierre Bonnard, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Edouard Manet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Cezanne, and most directly, Vincent Van Gogh.
Elements between the two paintings that are similar include the composition, the use of flat areas of simplistic, minimal color, and the use of the profile view. Loutrec is known for his lithographic prints, and his use of text that becomes part of the composition. His works show early an development of graphic design, yet also mimic the compositional format of calligraphy becoming part of the composition, seen in the Japanese print. The way that Loutrec signs his composition is obviously influenced by the Chinese and Japanese "seal". Also, the theme of "mother and child" was a highly popular subject matter for female American Impressionist Mary Cassatt and French Impressionist Berthe Morisot.
Pablo Picasso and African Art
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, although one of the most well-known artists for many of his movements, he is best known for his discovery and establishment of the movement of Cubism in 20th century Modern art. Prior to the formation of this movement, Picasso took interest in primitivism, a stylistic influence of African art that affected many artists such as Paul Cezanne, and other movements such as Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter, periods of German Expressionism. Picasso, like these others, admired the angular simplicity and African art. He gained inspiration for his famous painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon from Iberian sculpture; the viewer can readily identify this influence when looking at the faces of the women in the painting.
This painting was where the beginnings of Cubism emerged, when Picasso collaborated with fellow artist George Braque. After the construction of this painting, which served as a bridge from Picasso's Rose period to the premiere of Analytic cubism, the invention of Cubism would effect a number of coming movements in 20th century Western art.
M.C. Ecsher and the Art of Islam
Artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is known mainly for his woodblock and linoleum prints that reveal extreme realism, yet also precise mathematical elements. He traveled throughout Europe, and lived in Italy with his wife Jetta from 1924-1935. When visiting Spain, he became fascinated with the Alhambra, a 14th century Moorish-style palace in Granada. This triggered his exploration of the geometric division of the plane which we see in his two-dimensional plans of architectural structures and incorporation of geometry and symmetry into his work.
The similarity between the zelij Moroccan tile and the Escher tessellation is the calculated division of space and remarkable symmetrical organization of the composition. The key to Escher's tessellations are that they fit together like a puzzle, with no spaces or gaps, similar to Islamic tiling.