Western Influence on Japanese Traditions

Yasui Sotaro

Portrait of Mrs. F

Oil paing on canvas

1939

The history of Japanese foreign relations, with the country’s alternating isolation from and openness to foreign powers, has greatly affected the course of Japanese art history. While one could go on about the influence of the Chinese, the topic at hand here is the opposition between Asian and European aesthetics within a piece of artwork. Although the Japan began trading relations with Western powers in the Edo period, however, western influence on Japanese art didn’t thoroughly materialize until the Meiji Period, especially around the beginning of the twentieth century. Made in 1939, Yasui Sotaro’s Portrait of Mrs. F is a prime example of the connection between Asian and European artistic endeavors due to its composition after the school of Western-style painting was well established.

Beginning in the late Edo period, Japanese artisans were increasingly aware of western art. It wasn’t until the Meiji period, however, that an appreciable proportion of Japanese artists began to incorporate western stylistic ideals into their own artwork. The development of western-style art, known as yôga, took place around the turn of the twentieth century during a period of relatively relaxed relations with foreign powers. In fact, the government, for a time, encouraged Japanese citizens to study western technology, including artistic techniques such as oil painting. Many aspiring artists traveled to Europe and experienced first hand the transition between impressionism and post-impresionism. These artists studied from the works of the later impressionists and early post-impressionists, including Renoir and Cézanne.

Yôga artwork differs sharply from traditional Japanese artwork, often referred to as nihonga. While an artist practicing the nihonga tradition would find inspiration in poems, novels, and other classic texts, yôga artists broke their ties to literary inspiration in favor of a more innovative and original approach. Yôga artists experimented further through the use of western media and techniques. Thus, a painter like Yasui Sôtarô would employ stretched canvas and oil paint instead of a more traditional media, such as ink and pigments on paper or silk. Also, yôga painters created abstracted forms through the use of simplified forms

Born in 1888, Yasui Sotaro was part of the first generation of artists who thoroughly integrated western ideals into their work. After a preliminary study of western art under the direction of Asai Chû, Yasui traveled to Paris to further his understanding. He studied extensively from the works of Cézanne and Pissarro between 1907 and 1914. In 1915, shortly after his return to Japan, Yasui exhibited 44 works he had produced while abroad and was admitted to the Nikakai, an organization of yôga painters formed in 1914, the year of Yasui’s return. Thereafter, Yasui continued to refine his personal style, incorporating Japanese and European ideals. He left the Nikakai in 1935 to become a member of the Imperial Academy of Fine Art before becoming a professor at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music in 1944.

Yasui’s Portrait of Mrs. F is an example of his mature style and incorporates European and Japanese techniques strikingly within one picture frame. Within the piece he successfully juxtaposes a traditional Japanese setting with the nontraditional western clothing and posture of the woman. While the wall in the background is covered with a vague Japanese decorating motif, the figure sits on a chair in the foreground wearing a western-style pinstripe suit with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap. Also, despite the fact that the entire painting is indeed oil on canvas, the unsaturated colors in the background seem to allude to the effect of ink on paper. Sharply contrasted with this watercolor effect is the method in which the figure is portrayed. She is outlined in relatively sharp, thick lines precisely rendered to give the illusion of space. The pinstripes follow the shape of her form, and even the lines of the chair appear to recede into the distance.

One also observes a certain likeness between the way in which Yasui defines the figure and Cezanne’s characteristic use of oil paint. One only needs to compare the Portrait of Mrs. F to Cezanne’s Portrait of Louis Guillaume to see this similarity. As in Yasui’s portrait, Cezanne uses a minimal amount of detail to portray the boy. Although the figure is not overly detailed, however, it is still three-dimensional in appearance. Cezanne achieved this illusion of volume through the use of contour lines, such as the edges and wrinkles of the jacket as it curves slightly over the boy’s chest and the way in which the scarf lays around his neck. In his Portrait of Mrs. F, Yausui used contour lines to allude to space in the same way. Another notable similarity between the two pieces is the flatness of the background, which further emphasizes the figure being portrayed and the space in which he or she is seated.

This is just one example of the many ways in which Japanese artists used to incorporate western artistic media and methods. Throughout the history of Japanese art, western ideals have been portrayed in a variety of ways, whether pejorative or positive in nature. The time period leading up to the Second World War represents only an isolated example. While impressionism and post-impressionism were popular western ideals to for artists like Yasui Sotaro, artists who worked before and after his generation may have very different methods of using western influences to their advantage.

-Linnea Bjerknes

Works Cited

The Dictionary of Art.

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture . London; New York: Routledge, 2002.

Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan . 1st ed. Tokyo; New York, N.Y.: Kodansha, 1983.

Guth, Christine M. E. "Japan 1868-1945: Art, Architecture, and National Identity." Art Journal 55, no. 3 (1996): 16-20.

Hirayama, Mikiko. "Ichii Hakutei on the Future of Japanese Painting." Art Journal 55, no. 3 (1996): 57-63.

Kodansha Intanashonaru Kabushiki, Kaisha, and America Kodansha. The Kodansha Bilingual Encyclopedia of Japan = Taiyaku Nihon Jiten. 1st. ed. Tokyo: Kodansha International; New York: Kodansha America, 1998.

Sandler, Mark H. "The Living Artist: Matsumoto Shunsuke's Reply to the State." Art Journal 55, no. 3 (1996): 74-82.

Schapiro, Meyer, and Paul Cezanne. Paul Cezanne. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1988.