Western Style Painting

Western-Style Painting in Pre-Meiji Japan Stephanie Johnson, Art 259, Spring 2005
The presence of western art in Japan begins with the first European visitors to Japan. These first visitors were Portuguese traders and Jesuit priests coming to Japan as missionaries in 1549. The first documented western art in Japan were two paintings brought by the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier and they were of the Annunciation and of the Virgin Mary and baby. Christianity flourished for almost 40 years in Japan with the protection of the shogun. Along with the Jesuits, there were also Franciscan and Dominican monks that came to Japan during this period. Japanese authorities began to be concerned with the European presence when in 1598 the different groups of European missionaries were openly arguing amongst themselves. There was growing concern among the authorities of further contact with the west and persecution of Christians began at this time. All of this lead to Japan’s shogun, in 1638, making the decision to close the doors of the country to the rest of the world. The only foreigners that were allowed in the country after this time were the Dutch because they were not seen as a threat. But even the Dutch were only allowed on a small artificial island in Nagasaki harbor called Deshima. For over 200 hundred years until 1854 the main European influence in Japan came from interactions with the Dutch community on Deshima. Before the closing of Japan much of the western art that was brought into Japan was of a religious nature. A small number of European religious leaders in Japan commissioned Japanese artists to make religious works. Japanese goldsmiths in 1565 were commissioned to make two shelves for the altar of Father Luis Froes' church in Osaka. This is most likely the earliest incidence of Japanese artists working in a European style. Early on there were no European painters in Japan to instruct them in the western manner of painting. Then in 1583 an Italian Jesuit named Giovanni Niccolo came to Nagasaki. He was a trained painter and after a couple years in Japan he opened a school called the Academy of St. Luke. At the school he taught young Japanese Christians how to do oil and fresco painting and engraving. For some years Christian art flourished in Japan. After 1638 all Christian art was destroyed or it went underground and was cleverly hidden from authorities. This was for the time the end of western religious art in Japan. Even western secular art experienced a decline for a number of years before it picked up again later in the Tokugawa period. In Nagasaki the existence of western style art never completely died out, mostly due to the close proximity of the Dutch on Deshima. Part of the reason that the existence of western style painting gained more popularity later in the period was that the shogun lifted the ban on importation of western books in 1720. The western books that came into Japan were often manuals regarding science and technology which were completely new information for most Japanese. These manuals often had sketches of objects from the natural world, which were a major influence to Japanese artists who sought to create more realistic representations of the objects and scenes that they painted. Shiba Kokan in his journal writes this about the painting he did of Mount Fuji: “Because I have followed Dutch methods and used oils to colour my pictures, they bear a close resemblance to reality.” He further wrote, “there are different schools of artists in Japan…none of them knows how to draw Fuji.”

There are three different categories of paintings in Japan for western style and western-themed works. The earliest type used in Japan was called namban, which means ‘southern barbarians.’ This type of painting was often done on screens and it was always done in Japanese styles of painting but the images in the paintings were of the Portuguese and Dutch that arrived in Japan. One interesting thing to note about the screens that differed from normal Japanese painting is that the screens were read from left to right in the European style, rather than from right to left as in Japanese screens. This kind of painting was done early on starting from when Europeans were first arriving in Japan until the time that foreigners were banned. Another category of western style painting is yofuga or yoga, this is characterized by the use of western oils or Japanese pigments and a focus on perspective and shading. Also included in this category are those paintings that were done using western images as models as well as painting of Japanese themes. These paintings did have some Japanese elements, but they mostly tried to be as realistic to life as possible. This kind of painting was also done starting from when westerners first arrived in Japan but it continued after the closing of the country with the help of the western books that came into Japan. The third category of painting was the Maruyama-Shijo school, which was founded by Maruyama Okyo. In this style Japanese techniques are mixed with the new western ways of painting to create “greater accuracy of depiction and a sense of naturalism and the everyday.” This style began with Maruyama in the mid-1700s and it continued from that time.

Many of these Japanese artists that chose to use western techniques or themes in their paintings, like Kokan, wanted to be able to express the images they painted more realistically. They also wanted to break out of the old styles of painting in which they often felt trapped. In doing western painting, these artists could experiment with styles and themes that were entirely new to a Japan that was very closed off and stifling to free thinkers. In doing western style painting these artists often took the chance to study science and the natural world and they were able to make their small world a little bit bigger and a little more exciting.
Sources French, Cal. Shiba Kokan: Artist, Innovator, and Pioneer of Westernization in Japan. New York: Weatherhill, 1974. French, Cal. "The First and Last Passion (Shiba Kokan)." Hemisphere 21(1) 1977: 8-13. French, Cal. "The First and Last Passion (Shiba Kokan)." Hemisphere 21(3) 1977: 8-15. Mason, Penelope. History of Japanese Art. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. Sullivan, Michael. The Meeting of Eastern and Western Art from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1973. Sutton, Denys. "Japan and Western Art." Asian Affairs 19(3) 1988: 289-297.

The presence of western art in Japan begins with the first European visitors to Japan. These first visitors were Portuguese traders and Jesuit priests coming to Japan as missionaries in 1549. The first documented western art in Japan were two paintings brought by the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier and they were of the Annunciation and of the Virgin Mary and baby. Christianity flourished for almost 40 years in Japan with the protection of the shogun. Along with the Jesuits, there were also Franciscan and Dominican monks that came to Japan during this period. Japanese authorities began to be concerned with the European presence when in 1598 the different groups of European missionaries were openly arguing amongst themselves. There was growing concern among the authorities of further contact with the west and persecution of Christians began at this time. All of this lead to Japan’s shogun, in 1638, making the decision to close the doors of the country to the rest of the world. The only foreigners that were allowed in the country after this time were the Dutch because they were not seen as a threat. But even the Dutch were only allowed on a small artificial island in Nagasaki harbor called Deshima. For over 200 hundred years until 1854 the main European influence in Japan came from interactions with the Dutch community on Deshima.

Before the closing of Japan much of the western art that was brought into Japan was of a religious nature. A small number of European religious leaders in Japan commissioned Japanese artists to make religious works. Japanese goldsmiths in 1565 were commissioned to make two shelves for the altar of Father Luis Froes' church in Osaka. This is most likely the earliest incidence of Japanese artists working in a European style. Early on there were no European painters in Japan to instruct them in the western manner of painting. Then in 1583 an Italian Jesuit named Giovanni Niccolo came to Nagasaki. He was a trained painter and after a couple years in Japan he opened a school called the Academy of St. Luke. At the school he taught young Japanese Christians how to do oil and fresco painting and engraving. For some years Christian art flourished in Japan.

After 1638 all Christian art was destroyed or it went underground and was cleverly hidden from authorities. This was for the time the end of western religious art in Japan. Even western secular art experienced a decline for a number of years before it picked up again later in the Tokugawa period. In Nagasaki the existence of western style art never completely died out, mostly due to the close proximity of the Dutch on Deshima. Part of the reason that the existence of western style painting gained more popularity later in the period was that the shogun lifted the ban on importation of western books in 1720. The western books that came into Japan were often manuals regarding science and technology which were completely new information for most Japanese. These manuals often had sketches of objects from the natural world, which were a major influence to Japanese artists who sought to create more realistic representations of the objects and scenes that they painted. Shiba Kokan in his journal writes this about the painting he did of Mount Fuji: “Because I have followed Dutch methods and used oils to colour my pictures, they bear a close resemblance to reality.” He further wrote, “there are different schools of artists in Japan…none of them knows how to draw Fuji.”