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- deteriorating largely due to the influence of Western technology and a growing negativity on the part of the Japanese towards their own culture and heritage.
Following international exhibitions of Japanese prints in London and Paris in 1862 and 1867, European artists developed enormous enthu�siasm for Japanese art. This occurred at the same time as European artists were experi�encing a profound change in their ideas about painting. The Europeans were fascinated with Japanese motifs like the kimono with its various patterns and with Japanese composi�tional devices like the truncation of the major part of the subject, solid areas of colour, the use of large empty spaces, the division of the composition into simple geometric areas, the vertical format and the use of high or low viewpoint to bring the foreground and back�ground towards the same plane.
The most progressive ideas in Western art developed in Paris during the late nineteenth century, and ukiyo-e prints played a role in this new movement. Manet was the first to adopt some aspects of the ukiyo-e print, particularly the portrayal of everyday activities and ordinary experiences. Monet�s scenes of everyday life and his brilliant colours also show the influence of the ukiyo-e prints. Degas absorbed the unusual angles and points of view from the ukiyo-e prints.
From Japanese prints, Gauguin learned to use unusual shapes, like the fan-shape, in his paintings. The prints also inspired Gauguin to revive the colour print which Europeans had discarded centuries earlier. He was con�vinced that the Oriental tradition could revital�ize the art of colour printing in the West. In Hiroshige�s prints, van Gogh saw the decora�tive potential of brighter colours and the expressive power of large single-colour areas. Van Gogh even painted direct copies of some Hiroshige prints. Toulouse-Lautrec was strongly influenced by ukiyo-e themes, and he, too, began to paint risqu� scenes from the Parisian world of theatres, circuses, cabarets and prostitutes. The influence was noticeable in his lithographs as well as his paintings. More than any other Western artist of the time, Toulouse-Lautrec embodied the true spirit of ukiyo-e.
For James McNeill Whistler, ukiyo-e repre�sented an ideal of inner calm and beauty.
des estampes de ces �trangers, mais signaient rarement leurs oeuvres.
En 1853, le Commandant Perry � la commande d�une escadre am�ricaine de �navires noirs� est entr� dans la baie de Kurihama et a forc� le Japon � ouvrir ses ports au monde ext�rieur. Cette fin subite de l�isolement du Japon, datant depuis des si�cles, a attir� des hordes d�Am�ricains, de Chinois, de Hollandais, d�Anglais, de Fran�ais et de Russes � Yoko�hama. L��tranger est rapidement devenu un sujet extr�mement populaire pour les artistes- graveurs, avides de profiter de la curiosit� des Japonais � l��gard de ces cr�atures � la figure bizarre. Les meilleurs artistes de Yokohama �taient Hiroshige II et III [27], Sadahide [45], Yoshitora [43a] et Yoshikazu [44], Leurs estampes illustrent non seulement la fascina�tion exerc�e sur les Japonais par le v�tement et l�apparence des �trangers, mais elles sont charg�es d�images d�engins bizarres prove�nant de l�Ouest, tels que les paquebots, les locomotives, et les voitures � chevaux. Les estampes de Yokohama fournissent ainsi une excellente source d�information sur une �poque de rapides changements sociaux.
Deux artistes du dix-neuvi�me si�cle dignes de remarque se situent un peu en dehors du courant principal de la gravure ukiyo-e. Il y a l�artiste semi-ukiyo-e Gengyo (1817-1880) [46], le peintre Shijo et le ma�tre laqueurZeshin (1807-1891) [V]. Les deux �taient d�habiles dessinateurs de surimono.
Un changement sensible s�est fait remarquer dans l�estampe ukiyo-e vers 1868, le r�sultat de la chute du gouvernement f�odal Tokugawa, du grand �moi suscit� par l�ouverture du Japon � l�Ouest et des progr�s du mercan�tilisme. Par pure n�gligence, l�ancien art de la fabrication du papier�fibreux, de belle qualit�, doux, durable et hydrophile�semble se perdre. Vers le moment de la restauration de l�Empereur Meiji en 1868, /'ukiyo-e a subi un autre coup �crasant: la substitution des couleurs v�g�tales traditionnelles par les colorants � l�aniline de fabrication euro�p�enne. Ces couleurs � l�aniline ont incit�s � exp�rimenter de nouvelles juxtapositions de couleurs criardes. L�estampe qui faisait para�tre c�te � c�te le rouge et le violet devenait la mode dans les ann�es 1870 et 1880. L��l�ve de Kunisada, Kunichika (1835- 1900) [48] s�est servi de ces nouvelles couleurs
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