Oscar Wilde's Orientalism

and Late Nineteenth-Century

European Consumer Culture
ZHOU XIAOYI

A Japanese young man

A blue-and-white young man.
w. s. G I L B E R T and A. s. S U L L I V A N , Patience

T
X H O U G H W E S T E R N E R S ' D I S C O V E R Y ofjapan can be traced back
to Marco Polo's time, the climax of m o d e r n interest i n Japan or
"the era of J a p o n i s m e ' " began i n the mid-nineteenth century, a
1

period that witnessed "Japan-mania" in E n g l a n d a n d France. In

1853-54, the A m e r i c a n C o m m o d o r e Matthew Perry visited Ja-
pan to enforce a commercial arrangement, little realizing that
"he was o p e n i n g an epoch of art as well as of trade" (Gaunt 42).
Francis Hawks gave an official account of Perry's extraordinary
experiences i n the oriental country in a massive volume, which
aroused great imagination a n d curiosity i n the West. In 1856, 2

Félix Bracquemond, painter and etcher, discovered Japanese

colour prints from the exotic designs o n the wrapping papers
around some imported oriental china. Most impressionists were
influenced by the block-print art. Several years later, the "Second
Great International E x h i b i t i o n " of 1862 systematically and mag-
nificently displayed "Japanese objects" to upper- and middle-
class Londoners. These events, associated with lucrative trade
with Japan, marked the beginning of the flourishing of Japanese
art and commodities i n late-Victorian E n g l a n d a n d France. Sub-
sequently, the use of Japan as a subject i n painting, poetry,
theatre, and even in literary criticism, became increasingly popu-
lar. Towards the turn of the century, Japan became an artistic
symbol, and Japanese art became "a cult" (Gaunt 51) or "the
gospel" ( H o u g h 203) for fin de siècle artists. In the process
ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 28:4, October 1997
50 Z H O U XIAOYI

of popularizing J a p a n , Oscar Wilde is a crucial figure. H e at-

tempted to redeem J a p a n from the marketplace a n d endow it
with aesthetic a n d theoretical significance. But for the post-
modern/postcolonial reader, Japan is a meeting-place of Wilde's
artistic dream a n d the "vulgar" w o r l d — a juxtaposition o f the
modernist n o t i o n of art and popular culture.

I J a p a n as an "Artistic U t o p i a "
Wilde's love of things Japanese is noticeable i n his O x f o r d pe-
riod, when he is said to have a n n o u n c e d that he wished to live up
to his blue a n d white Japanese china (Ellmann, Biography 44).
H e developed this n o t i o n of Japan as an ideal culture o n his
A m e r i c a n tour; i n his lectures, he imbues Japanese art with
theoretical meanings, frequently relating Japan to his aesthetic
enterprise — to the search for "pure beauty," to the "flawless
devotion to form," a n d to art's "external qualities of its own"
(Wilde, Essays 114, 125). H e argues that Eastern art "is a beau-
tifully coloured surface, n o t h i n g more" (134). In his presenta-
tion of Orientalism a n d exoticism, he places m u c h emphasis o n
the "physical beauty," the distortion of the "facts of c o m m o n
life," a n d the enhanced sensibility and artistic effects. In "The
English Renaissance," he maintains that
this indeed is the reason of the influence which Eastern art is having
on us in Europe, and of the fascination of all Japanese work. While
the Western world has been laying on art the intolerable burden of its
own intellectual doubts and the spiritual tragedy of its own sorrows,
the East has always kept true to art's primary and pictorial condi-
tions. (Wilde 1 3 4 )
Essential to this argument is Wilde's heightening of formal
awareness o f the necessity to differentiate subject-matter or con-
tent f r o m artistic techniques. H e regards form as the primary
element i n art a n d exemplifies the n o t i o n with Japanese works.
In the first version of "The Decay of Lying" (1889), he
pays homage again to the "sense of form" i n oriental decorative
art, which translates experience into conventions. H e argues, as
Epifanio San J u a n , Jr. notes, that pure aesthetic formalism a n d a
sensory w o r l d are present i n "Oriental art, with its gorgeous
materialism, its frank rejection of imitation, its wonderful secrets
 OSCAR WILDE'S ORIENTALISM 51

of craft and colour, its splendid texture, its rare metals andjewels,
its marvellous and priceless traditions" (80). A l t h o u g h this argu-
ment refers mainly to Byzantine art, it also represents Wilde's
view of Japan, which is especially noticeable i n his other lectures,
such as "The Decorative Arts."
"The Decorative Arts" addresses colour, design, and the formal
elements of Japanese "beautiful works of art." Wilde points to
"the exquisite gradation of colour" of Eastern carpets, the "lovely
design" of Japanese fans and lacquer cabinets, and that "most
gorgeous Eastern tapestry" (Essays 179-81). H e asserts that art
can never have any other claim but its own perfection, and he
goes o n to praise Japanese artists who set ordinary things i n a
new, artistic order:
With a simple spray of leaves and a bird in flight aJapanese artist will
give you the impression that he has completely covered with lovely
design the reed fan or lacquer cabinet at which he is working, merely
because he knows the exact spot in which to place them. ( 1 8 1 )

C o m p a r e d to what obtains i n "The English Renaissance," the

emphasis seems to shift from the discussion of formal principles
to practical art. Yet W i l d e does not limit himself to the technical
problems of artistic design. His argument always returns to gen-
eral aesthetic ideals. Fundamental to his technical concerns is
the "oriental spirit" that is present i n Japanese works of art. "Do
not imitate the works of a nation, Greek or Japanese . . . but their
artistic spirit of design and their artistic attitude to-day, their own
world" (186). Western artists "should absorb" this "spirit" or
"attitude" in their art, developing a real artistic taste to confront
the ever-increasing ugliness of the environment. By awakening
people to the charms of form and colour, the artist can open
their eyes to the formal beauty of life.
O t h e r aesthetes also gathered under the banner of Oriental-
ism a n d launched a campaign to reinforce the cultural trend that
was to aestheticize, with the help ofjapanese art, late nineteenth-
century sensibility a n d discourse. In France, Japanese colour
prints were already treasured by Bracquemond, Baudelaire, the
C o n c o u r t brothers, a n d most Impressionist painters. T h e Japa-
nese influence can be seen particularly i n the Impressionists'
works, f r o m the utmost simplicity of line to the most sen-
52 ZHOU XIAOYI

suai forms of colour. In E n g l a n d , J o h n Ruskin, Dante Gabriel

Rossetti, James Abbott Whistler, E. W . G o d w i n , and W i l l i a m
T

Morris also admired Japanese objets d'art, which stress line, shape,
colour, and the beauty of design. The Japanese fashion was i n full
swing among these writers and artists, and Japanese artistic prin-
ciples were applied to furniture design and interior decoration.
In poetry, E d w i n A r n o l d , renamed "Sir E d w i n M i k a r n o l d o " by
Punch, showed his idealizedjapanese women, and usedjapanese
poetic forms i n his p o e m called "Some Japanese U t a " (see M i n e r
31-34). In a speech delivered at the Japanese Society Banquet i n
May 1894, he saluted his artistic ideal which he called "the
E m p i r e of the Rising Sun": "We admire the secret of that delicate
artistic gift . . . which makes you the Greeks of Asia. . . . It is
impossible that a splendid future should not lie before the
E m p i r e of the Rising S u n " (12).
This conception ofJapan and the uses ofjapanese art, I would
argue, are part of Wilde's and other aesthetes' own modernist
concern. J a p a n is an aestheticist or modernist "discovery"; Japa-
nese art confirms Wilde's aesthetic longings and therefore is
frequently used to illuminate his own formalist principles. In
these delicate "Japanese things," he finds his artistic ideal —
formalism, artistic autonomy, sheer "surface" with intensified
colour, design, and sensibility. T h e Japanese "artistic spirit" can
therefore be paralleled to the modernist "will to style" (to use
Fredric Jameson's phrase), to modern artists' search for an aes-
thetic order which transfigures a rough and chaotic subject-
matter. A n d Japan, with its mystery and exoticism, offers an
artistic U t o p i a , a pure, untainted territory which W i l d e and other
aesthetes always longed for.
In his interviews with A m e r i c a n journalists and i n the letters
written on his A m e r i c a n tour, Wilde said many times that he
planned to visit Japan. This c o u l d be an aesthetic adventure, an
artistic mission to the "wonderful country" where he wanted to
spend his youth. "I must go to Japan," he wrote to N o r m a n
Forbes-Robertson o n 25 May 1882, "and live there with sweet
little Japanese girls" (Wilde, Letters 120). A l t h o u g h his Far East-
ern voyage fell through for financial reasons, his remarks o n
Japan had already aroused attention among critics and journal-
 OSCAR WILDE'S ORIENTALISM 53

ists. A n article from the New York Daily Tribune, i 1 J u n e 1882,

announced Wilde's intention to travel i n Japan: " H i s intentions
for the future are . . . to visit Japan, a n d remain for two
months at least i n that wonderful country, contemplating its
artistic treasures . . ." ( M i k h a i l 88). In The Aesthetic Movement
in England, Walter H a m i l t o n , who devoted a whole chapter to
Wilde, regarded Wilde's journey as part of his aesthetic practice:
"Mr. Wilde intends to set out for a trip to Japan, with a view to
study art as it exists i n that singular country, art indeed to which
much that is really Aesthetic has been frequently c o m p a r e d — w e
shall know o n his return with how m u c h justice a n d accuracy"
(124). Apart f r o m these contemporary records, the most illu-
minating remark is perhaps Wilde's own powerful imaginative
description of that oriental country, which represents an aesthet-
icist understanding of Japan:

I feel an irresistible desire to wander, and to go to Japan, where I will

pass my youth, sitting under an almond tree in white blossom, drink-
ing amber tea out of a blue cup, and looking at a landscape without
perspective. (Essays 120)

Japan becomes a Japanese picture i n which everything displays

aesthetic meanings: " a l m o n d tree," "white blossom," "amber
tea," "blue cup," decorative "landscape without perspective," and
together with the "little Japanese girls" he mentioned i n the
previous letter, all o f these images are c o m b i n e d into perfect
harmony p r o d u c i n g the decorative effect which parallels Japa-
nese colour prints. Wilde imagines a country i n which everything
is transformed into images: life becomes a fairy tale, objects are
rendered unreal but sensual, a n d women are conceived as doll-
like people. This artistic country represents something that he
could not find i n actual life, but which c o u l d exemplify his
artistic ideal. In other words, Wilde applies his "art for art's sake"
principle to Japan. In his later writings, Wilde changes this exag-
gerated view ofJapan. In "The Decay of Lying," he confesses that
thejapanese people presented i n art do not exist, a n d "the actual
people who live i n J a p a n are not u n l i k e the general run of
English people" (Complete Works 988). We can see therefore that
his former image of Japan, i n his own words, is "a pure inven-
tion." In effect, it is an "invention" within his own aesthetic
54 Z H O U XIAOYI

framework, a n d it represents an enthusiastic effort of fin de siècle

aesthetes to create an artistic Utopia. In this respect, J o h n
Ashmead's comment on late nineteenth-century ideas ofjapan is
illuminating: "As the art ofjapan became known, there was a new
growth of the idea ofjapan as a U t o p i a , now as an artistic U t o p i a .
T o Fenollosa, L a Farge, H e a r n , a n d others, Japanese art was a
refreshing change from the commercialized art of the West." 3

Wilde's modernist enterprise of aestheticizing reality involves

further the impressionistic presentation of what Wilde calls the
"Japanese effect." In the o p e n i n g paragraphs of The Picture of
Dorian Gray (1890), we see a vivid description of the painter's
garden and studio. The studio is rendered, to a large extent, as
an impressionist "picture" whose beauty is "so flame-like." Japa-
nese motifs are decorated i n the "framed" space, best repre-
sented by "birds i n flight," "honey sweet blossoms" a n d "tussore
silk curtains." T h e "picture" is dominated by an oriental mode of
perception, that is, the " i m m o b i l e " conveys a "sense of swiftness
and m o t i o n . " Images are all arranged into a pictorial harmony,
making one "think of those pallid jade-faced painters of T o k i o . "
T h e r o o m and garden produce what W i l d e terms "a k i n d of
momentary Japanese effect" (Complete Works 18). The "Japanese
effect" suggests an impressionistic way of seeing: the object is not
a thing i n itself, but a transfigured image o n a pictorial "surface";
space is no longer a geometrical m e d i u m but a container of
colour a n d light i n which artists render realities into sensations.
For Wilde, natural objects are transformed into images o n a
verbal "canvas"; landscape is rendered unreal a n d colourful. In
these aesthetic "spaces"—the Japanese r o o m a n d the impressio-
nist g a r d e n — b u s y urban life cannot be sensed, the noise of
modern transport a n d turbulent crowds cannot be heard, and
"vulgar and glaring" posters a n d advertisements cannot be seen.
Reality is distanced or blurred. In the r o o m , "The d i m roar of
L o n d o n was like the b o u r d o n note of a distant organ" (18).
Wilde's impressionist spaces are a purified, tranquil, and tran-
scendental territory, a container of lyrical words a n d joyous im-
ages, a d o m a i n of vibration of light a n d shadows, a n d a realm of
pleasurable sensations. It is exotic a n d rhythmical, a type of
artistic realization par excellence. T h e artist "accepts the facts of
 OSCAR WILDE'S ORIENTALISM 55

life, and yet transforms them into shapes of beauty, and makes
them vehicles of pity or of awe, and shows their colour-element,
and their wonder, and their true ethical import also, and builds
out of them a world more real than reality itself, and of loftier and
more noble i m p o r t — w h o shall set limits to him? " (Wilde, Works
1049)- Wilde's presentation of Japan is i n effect based on a
modernist binary opposition between imaginary art and ordinary
life, or between the new sensual experience of pure form and the
banality of the everyday. His dream of artistic Japan is therefore
not only a refreshing change from Western commercialized art,
but also a protest against the commercialized reality i n which, as
he told his A m e r i c a n audience, "the vulgar and glaring advertise-
ments . . . desecrate not merely your cities but every rock and
river that I have seen yet i n A m e r i c a . . ." (Essays 178-79). For
Wilde, only art can offer a better alternative and "beautiful
surroundings."
Thus Wilde's mythical notion of Japan, characterized by over-
evaluation and pure imagination, represents the modernist at-
tempt to escape from the nightmare of commercialism and its
socially unprecedented situation. Yet has the Japanese artistic
ideal really created, as aesthetes thought, an untainted world of
art? It is ironic that although the impressionistic principle en-
abled Wilde and others to develop a "pictorial" sensibility and to
transcode everyday life into beautiful, sensual images, consumer-
ism still enters on a purely aesthetic level into their artistic
experience and literary practice. F r o m the very "absence" of
consumerism i n the Japanese dream, one can trace the "pres-
ence" of consumerist experience set a r o u n d Japanese art. In
the poetic and impressionistic representation of the "Japanese
effect," pleasurable and consumable images are fostered and
foregrounded.
Jameson's The Political Unconscious develops a "symptomatic"
reading of Joseph Conrad's sea fictions, p o i n t i n g to "the sym-
bolic social value of his verbal practice." His account of C o n r a d
paves the way for us to approach literary impressionism i n the
light of late nineteenth-century consumerism. H e argues that
Conrad's works shift between "two distinct cultural spaces, that
of ' h i g h ' culture and that of mass culture" (201). T h e i m -
 ZHOU XIAOYI
56
pressionistic transformation of realities makes it possible for
Conrad's works to be consumed "on a purely aesthetic level." In
this sense, Conrad's fiction finally becomes a "consumable verbal
commodity" which offers a pleasurable moment for the reader
(214). Jameson's "commodification approach" sheds a light
o n our investigation of Wilde's impressionism and leads us to
rethink his modernist claims in the context of the ideas and
experiences of the time. Wilde's writings can also be treated as
clues to the ways i n which feeling and perception are restruc-
tured to accommodate the ubiquity of the commodity form.
Wilde's impressionistic account of the "Japanese effect" or Japa-
nese objets d'art always has a close association with his notion of
pleasure, which he sometimes calls "the new H e l l e n i s m " or "new
Hedonism."
"Pleasure" is a central concept i n Wilde's thinking. It fre-
quently refers to the purpose of life, to self-realization, artistic
creation, designs and decoration, the beauty of the h u m a n body,
heterosexual and homosexual experiences, and, first and fore-
most, impressions and sensations. In "The Soul of M a n under
Socialism," which ends with a eulogy of the new H e l l e n i s m , Wilde
claims that "Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval" ( Works
1104). H e argues that pain and pleasure are two modes of self-
realization: Christ developed the former mode, and true "Indi-
vidualism" is based o n the latter. In The Picture of Dorian Gray,
H e n r y Wotton regards pleasure as the " a i m " of living; it is the
only thing one should live for. H e maintains that the pleasure of
life exists in the pursuit of bodily beauty and "new sensations."
H e n r y persuades Dorian to take his instructions as practical
guides for life: "Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid
of nothing. . . . A new H e d o n i s m — that is what our century
wants" (Wilde, Works 32). Wilde's new H e d o n i s m , which pro-
poses that pleasure is the only good i n life, owes something to the
philosophical debate i n the 1870s and 1880s at O x f o r d , led by
F. H . Bradley and T. H . G r e e n . This debate, in which H e d o n i s m
1

played an important part, initiates Wilde's Hellenistic ideal. L o r d

Henry's concept of "self-development" and his experiment with
Dorian is substantially close to Bradley's idea of "self-realisation,"
which he sees as the ethical end of life. Yet Wilde's notion of
 OSCAR WILDE'S ORIENTALISM 57

pleasure combines hedonistic ethics with an aesthetic principle,

that is, it stresses the formal, sensual aspects of the pleasurable
object. In this respect, Wilde appears closer to Walter Pater,
whose sensual aesthetic laid the theoretical g r o u n d for the con-
cept of pleasure in The Renaissance."
Following Pater, Wilde also believes that the basic purpose of
art is to produce sensual pleasure. Speaking of "the joy of poetry"
in Keats, he argues that "the thorn-crown of the poet will blossom
into roses for our pleasure" (Essays 135). As regards decorative
art, he maintains, as Kevin O ' B r i e n points out, that Whistler can
"teach you the beauty a n d j o y o f colour" (406). As for oriental
objets d'art used for decoration of a "charming r o o m , " he suggests
that one should use blue and white china, such as an "old N a n k i n
vase," coupled with a "warm yellow floor a n d wall," to give people
"a sense ofjoyousness" ( O ' B r i e n 406). T h e joyousness and plea-
surable colour is also the chief advantage of Whistler's Japanese
rooms. Jonathan D o l l i m o r e observes in "Different Desires: Sub-
jectivity and Transgression i n Wilde and G i d e " (1987) that
Wilde's aesthetic as a whole is accompanied by "something remi-
niscent of Barthes's jouissance [in The Pleasure of the Text]," or
what Borges has perceptively called Wilde's "negligent glee . . .
the fundamental spirit of his work [being] joy" (62). Barthes
argues that the "textual pleasure" involves the production of a
j o i n between the reader a n d language, as if naked flesh meets a
garment (9-10). T h e text is therefore transformed into an erotic
surface, like a body without organs, on which the reader is
wandering. In fact, the impressionistic "Japanese effect," in
Wilde's own words, aims to "seek to materialise" a space (which
Wilde has already turned into a sensory "text") " i n a form that
gives joy to the soul through the senses" ( O ' B r i e n 199). Wilde's
visual experience ofjapanese things a n d space thus reveals the
convergence of impression and pleasure.
T h e aesthetic enhancement of the visual experience therefore
suggests something beyond modernists' purely formal concerns.
Wilde attempts indeed to retain his aesthetic dream by restoring
pleasure to impressionist art, and he believes that his passionate
choice of the "Japanese effect" wrenches the living raw materials
of life into an artistic spatial "text." Yet can this literary practice
58 Z H O U XIAOYI

really distance h i m f r o m the "vulgar" cultural environment? Is

this transcendental process not a disguised way of "degrading"
oneself into a consuming passion i n terms of intensified pleas-
ure? Is D o r i a n Gray's pursuit of bodily pleasure Wilde's own
search for homosexual pleasure or the pleasure of commodity
consumption i n actual l i f e — n o t a logical development of this
impressionist pleasure? Or, to put it more generally, is this plea-
surable visual experience, produced entirely by the sensual "sur-
face" ofjapanese objets d'art (later, by Japanese commodities i n a
literal sense), not associated with lived consumerist visual pleas-
ure of the spectacle which is so c o m m o n an experience i n the
newly established department stores? In "Pleasure: A Political
Issue" (1983), Jameson gives a theoretical explanation of "the
determinate relationship between commodification a n d what we
may have been tempted to think of as pleasure" (Syntax 63).
For Jameson, "the pleasurable experience of the Beautiful" is a
consumerist issue. H e claims that "the aesthetics of ecstasy" or
"Barthesian jouissance" is "a properly 60s experience" when
consumer society was at a high point a n d postmodernism came
to be a d o m i n a n t force i n art and literature. H e therefore main-
tains that it would be "desirable for another moment to explore
the historical relations between this new e x p e r i e n c e — w h a t I will
call the 'pleasure of the s i m u l a c r u m ' — a n d its aesthetic objects
— h e n c e f o r t h called 'postmodernism' — a s well as its socially and
historically original situation — 'consumer society,' . . . the 'soci-
ety of the spectacle'" (71).
This r e l a t i o n s h i p — t h e increasing convergence of art a n d
consumerist p l e a s u r e — c o u l d be approached through the per-
spective of the newly emergent late nineteenth-century
consumption-oriented society and the aesthetes' lifestyle.
Wilde's impressionistic strategy of the "Japanese effect," beyond
his conscious awareness, overlaps, reinforces, or parallels the
very experiences of the commodity spectacle i n terms of his
personal activities as consumer a n d the consumerist conception
of jouissance. It is true that commercial details are no longer
visible i n his impressionistic presentation ofjapan and that social
factors have been driven u n d e r g r o u n d . Yet the consumerist way
of life affects one's perceiving and experiencing of the world,
 OSCAR WILDE'S ORIENTALISM 59

including the world of art. Therefore, the b o n d between the

artistic and the commercial is strengthened i n many ways, and
consumerism as an u n d e r l y i n g historical trend still operates as a
determinate force. It is at work within the very aesthetic impres-
sions a n d sensations, releasing its voice i n artistic experience and
changing the nature of "pleasure." The late-Victorian passion for
consumption, though Wilde and other aesthetes transcoded it
into an elitist experience of purely aesthetic forms, is marked by
what Jameson calls "a genuine Unconscious." T h e pleasure of
the "Japanese effect," which becomes the "pleasure of the sim-
ulacrum," provides a clue for us to gaze through the aesthetic
mist into the displaced cultural reality.

II Japanese Objets D 'Art i n

Popular Consumerist Cultural M i l i e u
O n 7 J u n e 1884, Punch published a piece of satirical verse about
tea and Japan, accompanied by a picture. This piece of work is i n
many ways like a m o d e r n advertisement: it is pictorial, persuasive
and exaggerating, relating the commodity to a seemingly irrele-
vant t h i n g — J a p a n . A quiet Japanese woman is dressed i n a
beautiful loose traditional costume covered by oriental designs.
The setting is typicallv oriental, decorated by a huge r o u n d
window with blossoms. In front of her lie cups, a tea-box, a pot,
and a tiny stove. T h e picture shares the features of Japanese
prints, presenting the beauty of lines and shapes, of casual sym-
metry a n d harmony, and of an exotic subject-matter. Yet its
theme is consumerist, dealing with d r i n k i n g and eating, and
presenting a eulogy of the commodity: "By me for aye the praise
be spoken / O f Tea, Tea, only Tea!"
This combination ofJapan a n d the commodity or the connec-
tion between Japanese art a n d social consumption and entertain-
ment is not an isolated p h e n o m e n o n . It represents a popular
understanding ofJapan. Japanese subjects were not only used in
"high" literature and art but also associated with popular culture,
entertainment, and even the consumerist way of life. O n 26 May
1888, Punch presented Japanese subjects again i n a series of
cartoon pictures called " O u r Japanneries," i n which a "cele-
 Z H O U XIAOYI
60
brated Japanese Artist," L i k a j o k o , was involved i n everyday en-
tertainment a n d consumption.
In effect, Punch used the "Japanese Artist" as an allegorical
disguise for the consumerist English o f the time. H e visited the
"seaside" (8 Sept. 1888), went "fishing" i n Scotland, had a "pic-
nic," eating and d r i n k i n g as at a banquet (25 A u g . 1888, 2g Sept.
1888). H e was also interested in h u n t i n g ("Shooting grouse on
the moors," 18 August 1888) a n d sport ("Cricket match," 16
June 1888). T h e "artist" was described as a pleasure-seeking
person a n d the pictures refer to typical English social life. There
is nothing but entertainment and consumption, masked by the
forms of Japanese settings, characters, costumes, and oriental
architecture. T h e pictures themselves are amusing a n d enter-
taining, showing a pleasing distortion of the image of the Japa-
nese to the reader a n d reinforcing the link between the artistic
and the consumerist.
In other social sectors, such as popular shows a n d theatre,
Japanese subjects were also widely used. A c c o r d i n g to Earl Miner,
Japanese "stage-types," associated with exotic refinement and
"fumbling jollity," appeared i n the 1870s and soon became pop-
ular. " 'The j o l l y J a p ' is a frequent type i n variety shows, musicals,
and as a fillip to otherwise tame productions" (53). These "stage-
types" c o u l d hardly be regarded as players i n serious dramatic
art. T h e Japanese subjects were arranged mainly for the purpose
of fun and entertainment. T h e Japanese "stage-types" were still
prevalent d u r i n g the 1880s, but severely criticized as a "mania for
Japanese pieces" by "serious" dramatic critics. O n e critic from
The Theatre (1 October 1885) attacked "The Japs," a Japanese
stage-type produced at the Novelty Theatre i n 1885, claiming
that "I should think that 'The Japs' was even too silly for the
ordinary patrons of these essentially tedious entertainments, and
also regard the m o d e r n music-hall, with its collar g r i n n i n g horse-
play, as the ne plus ultra o f fun" (230). T h e critic launched an
"aestheticist" assault on the "vulgar" uses ofjapanese subjects in
popular theatre, which he called the "Japanese craze," declaring
that this h a n d l i n g o f j a p a n " was void of high seriousness. H e was
certainly not pleased to see that "Japan" i n the m o d e r n theatre
was mainly involved in the form of fun and entertainment that
 OSCAR WILDE'S ORIENTALISM 61

reflected popular taste. As regard Japanese objets d'art with their

ornamental design, the critic argued that "we admire their b o l d
and beautiful scheme of colour" (230). This remark suggests
that his criticism ofjapanese stage-types is actually based o n an
aesthetic notion o f j a p a n similar to Wilde's. B o t h regard Japa-
nese culture as a perfect example of the "artistic spirit" that has
equipped aesthetes to reform the Victorian sensibility. They were
particularly u n w i l l i n g to see the exotic Japanese subjects contam-
inated i n everyday entertainment, which obviously betrayed the
essential nature of their artistic ideal. Thus the defence of the
purity of artistic "Japan" a n d the protest against the popular use
ofjapanese subjects are notable everywhere i n their writings. Yet,
as their criticism shows, "Japan" had become deeply and widely
involved i n popular culture and the commercial theatre of the
time.
The influence of the "jolly Jap" stage-types and the "degrada-
tion" of artistic "Japan" i n the popular cultural m i l i e u can also
be seen i n the presentation ofjapanese subjects i n "high" litera-
ture and aesthetic theatre, namely, i n W. S. Gilbert's and A . S.
Sullivan's comic operettas Patience (1881) and The Mikado
(1885). Patience is a lively satirical drama, which intensely mag-
nified the notoriety of aestheticism a n d of Wilde. The "Fleshly
Poet" Reginald B u n t h o r n e (obviously Wilde) asserts how popu-
lar Japanese things were a m o n g aesthetes: "all one sees / That's
Japanese" (Gilbert 173). H e is a lover ofjapanese commodities,
and acknowledges himself to be " A Japanese young m a n / A
blue-and-white young m a n " (Gilbert 204). Bunthorne-Wilde
therefore offers himself o n the stage as both an aesthete and
consumer, appearing frequently at auctions to acquire blue
and white Japanese pottery. H e r e Gilbert and Sullivan refer to
Wilde's eccentric behaviour at O x f o r d : a young aesthete, living a
materialistic life, announces his artistic notions by displaying
cultural commodities from oriental countries. T h e drama sati-
rized his material motives, thus exposing the ironical nature of
aestheticism.
A c c o r d i n g to Miner, to conceive "vivid" characters for The
Mikado, Gilbert searched the stock of theatrical Japanese types
that had been popular o n the stage for decades. The Mikado is a
62 z h o u x i a o y i

representative of the cruel oriental, a n d i n Ko-Ko we see the "jolly

Jap." M i n e r argues that "the only knowledge o f Japan really
necessary to understand the operetta c o u l d have been gained
from any of the pseudo-Japanese plays of the time" (56). This
parody ofjapanese stage-types gives the operetta the features of
popular shows and made it so entertaining that it soon became
one of the best loved plays of the time. Yet its popularity was
achieved at a high price: the aesthetic image of Japan as an
artistic ideal evaporated without a trace. Gilbert and Sullivan's
two aesthetic operettas, which played so important a part i n the
aesthetic movement i n E n g l a n d , are i n effect a k i n d of parallel to
the entertaining Japanese stage-types which belong to popular
culture. It is not surprising to note that the audience regarded
The Mikado as one of the "jolly Jap" plays. W h e n The Mikado was
staged i n the Savoy Theatre i n 1885 and 1886, Punch responded
with review articles a n d cartoon pictures, i n which the dramatis
personae of the play were called "Funny Japs" (28 M a r c h 1885
and 27 February 1886) a n d the entertainment value of the
operetta was emphasized. T h e "Funny Japs" therefore can be
seen as the artistic use of the image of the "jolly Japs," which, as
we have seen above, was developed by popular plays a n d variety
shows. "Japan" o n the stage became a meeting place of "high"
literature or art a n d "light" entertainment.
T h e convergence of the aesthetic n o t i o n of Japan and the
popular use ofjapanese images is ultimately the result of the
connection between Japanese art a n d the mass consumption of
"Japanese things" i n the late nineteenth-century market. T h e
consumerist way of life actually affected people's conception of
Japan a n d taste for the exotic. M o r e specifically, the popular
understanding of Japan owes something to the appearance of
Japanese things i n the marketplace where they were classified
and systematically displayed. M i n e r points out that " 'The j o l l y
Jap' may have grown i n part out of English contact with the
Japanese who came to L o n d o n for the International E x h i b i t i o n
of 1862, or with those who came to establish shops a n d even
small factories to cater to the craze forjapanese bric-à-brac i n the
last decades of the century" (53). In fact, the Japanese pieces
originated from the interests of panorama shows i n L o n d o n after
 O S C A R W I L D E ' S O R I E N T A L I S M 63

the E x h i b i t i o n of 1862. A "grand panorama for m a k i n g us better

acquainted with the important empire of Japan," which was
designed by Captain Wilson a n d opened i n May 1862, is perhaps
the earliest. This "great work," composed of a series of pictures
which cover "gooo ft. of canvas," shows "with scrupulous fidelity,
the costumes, temples, streets, bridges, scenery, a n d rivers of the
Japanese empire." T h e advertiser of the panorama spoke highly
of it, proclaiming that "Japan, once a sealed book, is now un-
clasped, and we may freely inspect its treasures" ( The Illustrated
545) • Yet the remark is only correct if it is applied to the Interna-
tional E x h i b i t i o n of 1862 itself, a great event that no doubt
transformed Japanese objects into spectacles and aroused curi-
osity and national interest in Japan and Japanese art. O n May 1,
11 years after the successful Great E x h i b i t i o n of 1851, the sec-
ond International E x h i b i t i o n was opened by members of the
Royal family i n South Kensington, L o n d o n . T h e spectacular
effects of this large sum of commodities, displayed magnificently
in French, Italian, Austrian, Danish, G e r m a n , Egyptian, Indian,
and Chinese courts, struck the eyes of upper- and middle-class
Londoners who came to enjoy the sensual feast (Burges 1862a).
The o p e n i n g ceremony and the parade were splendid, and the
frequent turn-out ofjapanese ambassadors who wore impressive
traditional dress excited journalists a n d reporters. As a big ad-
vance over the E x h i b i t i o n of 1851, there was a "Japanese court,"
presenting oriental manufactured articles and goods i n front of
curious visitors. This was perhaps the most systematic and influ-
ential representative body of imported Japanese things. 6

The gorgeous commodities displayed at the Japanese court

were largely from Sir Rutherford Alcock's collection, who was the
first British Consul to Japan. In a review article, "The Japanese
Court i n the International E x h i b i t i o n " (1862), W i l l i a m Burges,
architect and collector ofjapanese objets d'art, gives the most
detailed description of the many specimens ofjapanese goods,
which were classified into three categories: "Metal-work," "Ivo-
ries" and "Wood-work." O t h e r articles which are equally impor-
tant were recorded i n Alcock's book, i n c l u d i n g blue a n d white
porcelain, fabrics, silks a n d robes i n beautiful design, colour and
texture (3-5). A l l of these commodities were professionally ar-
64 ZHOU XIAOYI

ranged at the E x h i b i t i o n , a n d thus brought to the Victorian

public with elegance, perfection, and beauty of shape, colour
and design.
In fact, the system of spectacular representation ofjapanese
commodities perfected i n the display laid the basis for the move-
ment of aestheticizing and idealizing Japan. F o r it is surely the
case that the systematic display of the oriental objects by which
their forms and colour are foregrounded is identical to the
aesthetic way of seeing. T h e exhibition inaugurated spectacular
production a n d consumption which were paired i n the single
process of commodity representation. It saturated the market-
place with a world of self-referential signs i n which n o t h i n g else
mattered except their surfaces. It was a w o r l d p r o d u c i n g sheer
visual pleasure of colour, shape, and design. In another article on
"The Great E x h i b i t i o n " (1862), Burges compared Japanese and
Chinese commodities i n their different uses of colour. "The
Chinese likes glaring colours," he described, and "manages to
make them harmonious." O n the contrary, "theJapanese colour-
ing is never gaudy and, when compared with the Chinese, it is
m u c h lower i n tone" (10-11). Burges's concern with colour was
intertwined with the "pleasure" of seeing. Perhaps "seeing" itself
is the core of Burges's description: "an hour, or even a day or two,
spent i n the Japanese department will by no means be lost time"
( 2 54). Twenty years later, aesthetes c o u l d see them day a n d night
as they wished: these artistic commodities were set a n d displayed
i n the "aesthetic homes" of W i l d e , Whistler, a n d many others.
The "era ofJaponisme" began, and the Japanese "book" was first
opened i n the marketplace.
After the E x h i b i t i o n of 1862, Japanese commodities were
indispensable i n subsequent exhibitions throughout Europe. In
1867, the Exposition universelle h e l d i n Paris showed a fine collec-
tion of Japanese-style pottery, faience, a n d porcelain, of which
the forms, designs a n d colours were "copied and reproduced"
from Japanese ceramic wares (Alcock 285). A c c o r d i n g to ajour-
nalist's report, Wilde once said that he attended "the Paris Expo-
sition" when he "was a lad" a n d "heard a Chinese fiddle" ( M i k h a i l
63). In 1873, V i e n n a witnessed a similar display ofjapanese
goods at the International Exposition; they were sold a n d dis-
 OSCAR WILDE'S ORIENTALISM 65

persed, and later collected by museums (Alcock 4). In 1878,

Japan was again represented i n Paris at the Exposition univer-
selle, with a large collection ofjapanese prints and applied art
including Japanese lacquer. As regards the consequence and
influence of these exhibitions, Alcock says: " N o r was I mistaken
in my estimate of the value and importance of such a public
display ofjapanese industries, fabrics, and artistic works. Within
a ver)' few years, o n my return from Japan a second time, I found
Japanese fabrics, silks, a n d embroideries, Japanese lacquer,
china, faience, bronzes, and enamels exhibited for sale i n the
shops of every capital i n E u r o p e " (3).
Paris a n d L o n d o n were the cities that accelerated the spread of
the fashion of Japan. Inspired by the swift trade i n Japanese
things at the exhibitions, dealers began to import oriental wares.
At first the articles obtainable were mostly small a n d easy to
transport, such as ivory netsuks, fans, textiles, sword-guards, a n d
ceramics. They were often wrapped in the flowered or designed
prints which were to excite painters and exercise tremendous
influence o n the fine arts. Soon afterwards, Japanese things
made their appearance i n the newly-established shops of Paris
and L o n d o n , where they were displayed and sold under the
name of decorative artifacts. In the early years before Japanese
literature was introduced to the West, these art-commodities,
with their exotic beauty and graceful strangeness, were the only
source from which to conceive an aestheticistjapan. T h e oriental
shops popularized Japanese commodities. O n e early shop for
the sale of oriental objects was established by M o n s i e u r a n d
Madame Desoye i n 1862, i n the Rue de Rivoli i n Paris. It was
visited by Baudelaire, the C o n c o u r t brothers, Manet, Whistler,
James Tissot, Jules Jacquemart, M . L . Solon, P h i l i p p Burty, and
H e n r i Fantin-Latour. T h e Japanese commodities revealed an
7

everlasting world of art, i n which these literary figures experi-

enced something that was absent i n actual life. They admired the
purity of artistic spirit, the delicacy of the workmanship; and they
could buy the oriental objects to realize their doctrine of art for
art's sake.
The most famous oriental shop which exercised immense
influence u p o n late-Victorian taste and fashion was A r t h u r
66 Z H O U X I A O Y I

Lasenby Liberty's i n L o n d o n . Liberty's was selling oriental

8

goods of all kinds: furniture, wallpapers, jewellery, silver, pewter,

silk, fabrics, fans, and Japanese prints. In 1881, Gilbert and
Sullivan enhanced the fame of the shop by using its fabrics for
costumes i n Patience. In 1884, E. W. G o d w i n was i n charge
of the costume department of the shop. D u r i n g the 1880s, the
shop was frequented by many painters a n d men of letters, includ-
ing Ruskin, Buìne-Jones, Rossetti, Whistler, Alma-Tadema, and
Charles Keene. It is not an exaggeration to say that the A r t and
Crafts and aesthetic movements were partly due to the wide-
spread fashion of the extraordinary variety ofjapanese c o m m o d -
ities, which proved to be the most entire and perfect joy to the
aesthetes. T h e exotic colour of the blue, the exquisite lines and
shapes, the flawless beauties of form are treasured i n the mar-
ketplace by those artists. By 1880, Lasenby Liberty himself was an
active participant i n Arts and Crafts society. T h e Japanese com-
modities in his shop carried their fascination into the twentieth
century.
The magical appearance ofjapanese things displayed, classi-
fied, and formally foregrounded i n the various oriental shops
accelerated the spread of the Japan mania. Frequented by artists
and men of letters, they further extended consumers' admira-
tion ofjapanese objets d'art. T h e fascinating display of oriental art-
commodities caused a fashion of consuming Japanese goods i n
the name of art. W i l d e followed this fashion, first at O x f o r d , then
in L o n d o n , using oriental objects to decorate his rooms. David
H u n t e r Blair recalled that he once helped W i l d e buy two large
vases of Japanese blue a n d white c h i n a to set i n his r o o m i n
Magdalen College at O x f o r d . Blair believed that it was "a fruit of
Wilde's gospel of aestheticism" ( M i k h a i l 4 ) , but for us, it is
equally a mode of consumption. In L o n d o n , W i l d e carefully
made his house o n T i te Street an oriental "space." His son Vyvyan
H o l l a n d describes that "a certain amount of Japonaiserie had
crept i n " (43). T h e house was designed by E. W. G o d w i n , deco-
rated by black a n d white bamboo chairs, bulrushes i n tall Japa-
nese vases, and with two large, many-hued "Japanese" feathers on
the ceiling. T h e fanciful and fantastic aesthetic aura entirely
derived from these Japanese commodities. In "The House Beau-
 OSCAR WILDE'S ORIENTALISM 67

tiful," Wilde r e c o m m e n d e d the same style to his A m e r i c a n audi-

ence. A c c o r d i n g to Kevin O ' B r i e n ' s reconstruction of the "most
effective" lecture (401), Wilde suggested that one should use
oriental objects i n house decoration. "When the breakfast table is
laid i n this apartment, with its bright cloth and its dainty blue and
white china, with a cluster o f red and yellow chrysanthemums i n
an old N a n k i n vase i n the centre, it is a charming r o o m " ( O ' B r i e n
406). I have mentioned this "charming r o o m " i n the context of
impressionism; now, filled with these Japanese commodities it
shows its consumerist meaning. Wilde also listed other Japanese
things to strengthen this aesthetic but also consumerist "charm,"
including "prettyJapanese racks i n light wood or bamboo," "the
beautiful Japanese mattings," "very handsome a n d economical
rugs from C h i n a , Persia, and Japan," "large, noble Japanese
dishes could be suspended o n the wall," a n d so o n . These orien-
tal objects, though presenting the highest artistic quality of
house decoration a n d intensifying one's visual impressions and
aestheticist sensations, also refer back to " c o m m o n life." They
fashioned what can be called the private exhibition of commodi-
ties, and the artistic arrangement can be seen as parallel to the
technology of commodity representation i n the marketplace.
O t h e r aesthetes also were keen to consume Japanese goods,
and exhibited them i n their "aesthetic homes." Whistler's house,
an oriental "space" o n Tite Street, was also ornamented with
Japanese-style coffee tables, sideboards, and blue pottery. Entire
rooms were decorated with wallpapers designed a r o u n d motifs
such as Peacock, Sparrow, a n d Bamboo. Further, Whistler and
other aesthetes seemed more active in dealing with Japanese
goods. W i l l i a m Gaunt recorded that Whistler, Rossetti, William
Morris, a n d Charles Augustus Howell collected large numbers of
Japanese screens, fans, prints, and blue a n d white china. Japa-
nese objects demonstrated not only their beauty o f shape and
design for aestheticist domestic use but also proved to be valu-
able for making money. Howell sold a collection of oriental
pieces to a pawnbroker. T h e i r value was more than his own
estimate. H e then produced a second collection, but unfor-
tunately this time his collection was mostly m o d e r n and worth-
less (49-50). In the 1870s, Rossetti and Whistler also sold their
68 ZHOU XIAOYl

Japanese treasures. The dispersal of the oriental objects a n d

their circulation as commodities i n the market helped to i n -
crease the popularity of "Japan." Gaunt points out that " F r o m
being the private sport of a few collectors, the art of C h i n a a n d
Japan became a cult: a n d twenty years after it had first made its
appearance i n Paris it became absorbed into that strange rapture
called English aestheticism" (51). Yet this aesthetic cult stems
from the early consumerist culture in E n g l a n d and Europe.
It is clear that the aestheticist mode of p r o m o t i n g everyday life
into an art is related to a consumerist craze for Japanese objects,
and the exotic taste i n house decoration is achieved by the
consumption ofjapanese commodities. Wilde himself admitted,
as O ' B r i e n notes, that the school of decorative art was related to
commercialism: "this school should be in direct relation with
manufacture and commerce" (402). T h e exotic a n d tasteful
house decoration is i n effect the aesthetic mode of domestic
consumption. T h e artistic use of Japanese things, therefore,
suggests the juxtaposition of aestheticism a n d consumerism.
The marketplace played a vital role i n the process of populariz-
ing Japan. In fact, the aesthetic notion of Japan is gradually
established by a c o m m o n effort of commercial dealers, con-
sumers, a n d artists. Wilde discovers his artistic ideal i n the fas-
cinating forms a n d designs ofjapanese things which signify an
artistic U t o p i a . H e thinks, as O ' B r i e n observes, this aesthetic
territory transcends everyday life and therefore can be used
to "temper and counteract the sordid materialism of the age"
(417). Yet, ironically, his "love of the beautiful" has deep roots in
the consumerism of the time. T h e "Arch-aesthete," who intro-
duced the "English Renaissance of Art" to A m e r i c a , adumbrated
at the same time the English consumerist way of life. This para-
dox is well presented by Punch (30 J u l y 1881) i n a cartoon
picture, of which the caption reads as follows,

Twopence I gave for my sunshade,

A penny I gave for my fan,
Threepence I paid my straw—foreign made,
I'm a Japan-Aesthetic young man!
This "aesthetic" young man, with a Japanese umbrella a n d a
Japanese fan i n his hands, parallels Wilde a n d other aesthetes
 O S C A R W I L D E ' S O R I E N T A L I S M 69

who consumed Japanese objects i n the name of art. It indicates

their double identities as both aesthete and consumer. It also
shows the double-sided nature ofjapanese objets d'art, especially
in the image of the fan. F o r W i l d e , as well as for other aesthetes,
the Japanese fan is art, "out of any ordinary collection ofjapa-
nese fans . . . any young artist will get the most perfect models."
The Japanese fan gives one "the right sense of ornament, the
effect of the whole surface being decorated" {Letters 116). It is an
aestheticist symbol which identifies one's artistic taste. Yet when
Wilde uses Japanese fans to decorate his home, he actually plays
the role of a real consumer, just as Punch suggested. F o r us as well
the artistic symbol derives from the consumerist society which
Wilde a n d other aesthetes inhabited and by which they were
influenced. T h e distinction between the aesthetic w o r l d and the
commercial reality is therefore obscured. This paradox con-
forms to my view of Wilde's impressionistic "space," i n which the
fusion of the artistic a n d the consumerist is evident but on a
higher, aesthetic level.

NOTES

' A l s o p h r a s e d as " a n e r a of J a p a n i s m e ' " ( A l c o c k 8 0 ) . P h i l i p p B u r t y ( 1 8 3 0 - 9 0 ) , t h e

F r e n c h a r t c r i t i c a n d c o l l e c t o r o f j a p a n e s e objets d'art, is t h e o r i g i n a t o r o f t h e t e r m
" J a p o n i s m e . " w h i c h was first c o i n e d i n h i s b o o k Le Rappel ( 1 8 6 9 ) . T h e t e r m
a p p e a r s a g a i n i n h i s series o f a r t i c l e o n J a p a n e s e a r t i f a c t s i n 1 8 7 2 - 7 3 , i n w h i c h
J a p o n i s m e a p p l i e s to b o t h J a p a n e s e art a n d c o m m o d i t i e s . A l c o c k e m p l o y e d t h e
t e r m i n h i s b o o k i n 1 8 7 8 . It was t h e n w i d e l y u s e d by F r e n c h a n d E n g l i s h w r i t e r s a n d
artists, s u c h as J u l e s d e C o n c o u r t a n d A r t h u r S y m o n s . S e e D u f w a 4 2 , 4 7 ; a n d
Symons 101.

2 I n fact, it was a t h r e e - v o l u m e b o o k , e d i t e d by F. H a w k s : Narrative of the Expenditure of

an American Squadron to the China Seas andJapan, Washington: 1856. F o r m o r e d e t a i l s
o f t h e W e s t e r n e r s ' r e d i s c o v e r y o f j a p a n i n t h e m i d - n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y , see G a u n t
42-51; M i n e r 16-24; a
d Sandberg 295-302.
n

3
See A s h m e a d ' s d i s s e r t a t i o n a b s t r a c t ; also M i n e r 4 2 - 4 3 .
4
See S m i t h a n d H e l f a n d ; a n d K o h l 157-60.
5
I n t h e " P r e f a c e " o f W i l d e ' s " g o l d e n b o o k " ( E l l m a n n , Oscar Wilde 9 ) , P a t e r a r g u e s
that " T h e a e s t h e t i c c r i t i c , t h e n , r e g a r d s a l l t h e o b j e c t s w i t h w h i c h h e has to d o , a l l
w o r k s o f art, a n d t h e f a i r e r f o r m s o f n a t u r e a n d h u m a n l i f e , as p o w e r s o r f o r c e s
p r o d u c i n g p l e a s u r a b l e s e n s a t i o n s , e a c h o f a m o r e o r less p e c u l i a r o r u n i q u e k i n d "
( P a t e r i x ) . I n P a t e r ' s view, p l e a s u r e s t e m s l a r g e l y f r o m a r t i s t i c r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a n d
a l l sorts o f b e a u t i f u l e x t e r n a l f o r m s o f l i f e a n d n a t u r e . P l e a s u r e c a n t h e r e f o r e b e
r e g a r d e d as i n s c r i b e d i n t h e i m p r e s s i o n i s t i c style.
6
T h e e a r l i e s t d i s p l a y o f J a p a n e s e a r t a n d w a r e s c a n b e t r a c e d to a p r o v i n c i a l
e x h i b i t i o n o f 1854, h e l d i n L o n d o n , i n the gallery o f the O l d W a t e r C o l o u r Society,
70 Z H O U X I A O Y I

P a l l M a l l East. It was p e r h a p s i n s p i r e d b y C o m m o d o r e P e r r y ' s t r i p t o j a p a n . B u t this

e x h i b i t i o n , as E l i z a b e t h A s l i n o b s e r v e s , " m a d e v e r y l i t t l e m a r k a n d t o c o n t e m p o -
r a r y p r e s s c o m m e n t t h e r e was n o s u g g e s t i o n t h a t t h e e x h i b i t i o n was a n e v e n t o f a n y
s i g n i f i c a n c e " ( 7 8 1 ). T h e e x h i b i t i o n o f 1 8 6 2 t h e n serves f o r m o s t h i s t o r i a n s as t h e
starting-point.
7
F o r m o r e d e t a i l s o n D e s o y e s ' s s h o p , see P e n n e l l 8 4 ; G a u n t 4 3 ; D u f w a 4 0 ; W . L .
S c h w a r t z 7 9 8 - 8 0 6 ; a n d W e i s b e r g 16.
8
L i b e r t y was i n i t i a l l y i n s p i r e d b y t h e E x h i b i t i o n o f 1 8 6 2 , a n d d r e a m e d o f e s t a b l i s h -
i n g a n o r i e n t a l w a r e h o u s e to sell J a p a n e s e things. I n 1 8 7 5 , he o p e n e d a s h o p i n
R e g e n t Street. E i g h t y e a r s later, h e e x p a n d e d it a n d a c q u i r e d t w o s h o p s f u r t h e r
s o u t h a l o n g t h e street.

WORKS CITED

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