| Transcript |
- Foreword Avant-propos
Prints are perhaps one of the longest known and best appreciated art forms of the Japan�ese. Through Japanese prints the West met the East in a new way in the nineteenth century. The impact of the prints on the West in the 1860�s was significant and immediate, as the arrival of Japanese porcelains in Europe had been a century earlier.
The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is pleased to be able to present The Legacy of Japanese Printmaking, and to explore the many veins and traditions in the art of print as practised by the Japanese masters. The legacy is rich, the styles and subject matter varied, and the colouration handled particularly sensitively through many generations of artists. These developments and the relationships between students and masters are all traced in this exhibit and publication.
The legacy of these works is also found in the art of the West�that of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists forwards. In the 1860�s Japanese prints found their way from the dealers into almost every studio in Paris. Some artists like Whistler added Japanese prints to their collections of Oriental blue and white porcelains and Japanese costumes. The result was seen in the Impressionist�s work right away�Japanese prints hang over the table in Monet�s portrait of Zola, the art critic, writer and friend of the Impressionists. While some artists attempted to copy the style and images in toto, for many the legacy of Japanese prints is seen most clearly in their adaptation of the principles of the styles and compositions. Degas, for example, particular�ly, incorporated the direct �graphic style� the subtle use of line, the compositional sense of �off-centre� subjects, unusual perspectives from which subjects were portrayed, and the dramatic use of foreshortening. It was at this time too, and through the interest in and discussions about Japanese prints that some artists, like Pissarro, became especially interested in the techniques used in the graphic arts.
This interest in Japanese art and prints certainly continued beyond Impressionism and their impact is also evident in the work of the Post-Impressionists�van Gogh and
L�estampe est peut-�tre le genre artistique japonais le mieux connu et le plus appr�ci�. C�est gr�ce � elle qu�il y a eu, au dix-neuvi�me si�cle, une nouvelle rencontre entre l�Occi�dent et l�Orient. L�influence de l�estampe sur l�Ouest aux ann�es 1860 �tait aussi imm�diate et consid�rable que l�arriv�e en Europe des porcelaines japonaises un si�cle auparavant.
L�Art Gallery of Greater Victoria a grand plaisir � pr�senter Le Rayonnement de l�estampe japonaise, et � explorer les nombreuses traditions et lign�es de l�art de la xylographie telles que les ma�tres japonais les interpr�taient. Ce patrimoine est riche; ses styles et ses sujets sont multiples; le coloris a �t� mani� avec d�licatesse par de nombreuses g�n�ra�tions d�artistes. La pr�sente exposition et ce catalogue retracent cette �volution et les relations entre ma�tres et �l�ves.
Le rayonnement de ces oeuvres embrasse l�art de l�Occident aussi, d�s l��poque impres�sionniste et post-impressionniste. Aux ann�es 1860, les estampes japonaises se sont achemin�es des boutiques des marchands d�estampes jusqu�� tous les ateliers de Paris, pour ainsi dire. Certains artistes, tel que Whistler, ont incorpor� l�estampe japonaise � leurs collections de costumes japonais et de porcelaines orientales bleu et blanc. Cette influence se fait sentir tout de suite dans l�oeuvre des Impressionnistes�Monet, par exemple, dans son portrait de Zola (critique d�art, �crivain et ami des Impressionnistes) pr�sente quelques estampes japonaises accroch�es au-dessus d�une table. Tandis que certains artistes ont essay� d�en imiter le style et les images, pour la plupart d�entre eux le rayonnement de l�estampe japonaise se r�v�le plus nettement par l�assimilation des principes de style et de composition. Degas, par exemple, a surtout adopt� le style gra�phique direct, la subtilit� du cerne, le sens de la composition asym�trique, la perspective insolite avec laquelle le sujet est pr�sent�, et l�emploi spectaculaire du raccourci. C��tait � cette �poque aussi, et gr�ce � l�int�r�t et au d�bat suscit�s par l�estampe japonaise, que certains artistes, dont Pissarro, se sont sp�cialement int�ress�s aux techniques des arts graphiques.
|
|---|
