Scott Abel Whistler and Van Gogh in Japonisme Paintings by James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Vincent Van

Gogh represent the two different ideas that reflected Japonisme in nineteenth century Europe and America. James Whistler demonstrates his association with Japan and the Aesthetic Movement in his painting, Caprice in Purple and Gold, No. 2: The Golden Screen. Meanwhile, Vincent Van Gogh depicts Japan as a primitive utopian society and demonstrates this in his painting, Le Pre Tanguy. Not only do these paintings differ in subject matter, but also in their symbolism. The subject of Whistlers 1864 painting, Caprice in Purple and Gold, No. 2: The Golden Screen, is a woman dressed in a kimono looking at Japanese prints made by Hiroshige. The painting was of an Irish model named Jo Heffernan who was also Whistlers mistress. Jo is wearing a lot of makeup to make her face look very pale and she is wearing a purple, orange, and white kimono with a lot of flowers on it. The focal point of the painting is the orange part of her kimono. The kimono has a great deal of contrast between the purple and white on it. She is looking at a series of landscape prints known as Famous Views in the Sixty-odd Provinces made by Hiroshige. In front of the model, there are flowers, porcelain, and a black and brown box. Jo is sitting on a brown carpet and behind her is a golden Japanese screen depicting scenes from the Japanese novel, Tale of Genji. The picture has a great amount of detail in it. The palette has a lot of white, gold, and purple in it. The composition of the painting allows for the subject and the background to appear farther away from each other.

James Whistler painted with a Japanese theme because he viewed Japan as a place where there was no need to compromise between truth and beauty, because truth was beauty. This idea, beauty for beautys sake, was known as aestheticism. Whistler had never been to Japan and he often confused Japan with China. Robin Spencer said, Whistler made little distinction between Japan and China (Spencer 60). Therefore, one can conclude that Whistler imagined Japan in an unrealistic matter. Whistler used Japanese objects that he thought were beautiful, such as the screen, the porcelain, the Japanese prints, and the kimono. Whistler generally believed Japanese items were beautiful, so he incorporated them in his paintings. Once he observed some prints in the Japanese style by Fantin, he responded, jai t cette fois si plus surpris que jamais par la brilliant et le purt de ces bouquets (Spencer 65). Roughly translated this means, I was very surprised this time by the brilliance and purity of the bouquet. He enjoyed Fantins still life paintings and thought they were beautiful. Furthermore, the description of the work implies that the focus of the picture is not on the subject, but rather the lively use colors and the overall beauty of the picture. Vincent Van Gogh painted Le Pre Tanguy in 1887 and 1888. The background of the picture has a palette of light colors such as yellow, light brown and green and depicts Japanese prints on the wall behind Tanguy. Throughout the entire picture you may see the individual brush strokes and this creates a less realistic effect. This painting doesnt have a licked surface and the facture is not smooth at all. Although there is less detail than in Whistlers painting, there is still enough detail to depict Tanguys glasses in his pocket, the detail of his hand, and his knuckles. Furthermore, the direction of the brushstroke and the modeling of different shades of blue create a sense of volume in the

jacket. Also, there is a great deal of plasticity in the representation of Monsieur Tanguys skin and pants. Van Gogh effectively paints Tanguys eyes, white beard, and pale face. The light source is to Tanguys left, so Tanguys right side is slightly darker that his left side as a result. Many of the people in the figures represented, including Tanguy are outlined in red to an exotic effect. Not only was this painting influenced by Asian art, but it also depicts Julien Tanguys political philosophy. Emile Bernard stated, Julien Tanguy, who read Lecrit du Peuple and LIntransigeant assiduously, believed in that absolute love which h brought all mankind together and destroyed the individual struggles of ambition, always so bitter cruel (Kodera, 194). Julien Tanguy volunteered to fight for his ideology in the aftermath of the humiliating French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 when the city of Paris severed its ties with the national government headed by Adolphe Thiers and the National Assembly at Versailles. Parisians elected their own municipal council called the Commune of 1871 and were protected by the Paris National Guard. However, the Versailles troops fought in the streets of Paris for five weeks against people like Julien Tanguy and the Paris National Guard. The Commune was defeated and the Versailles troops reestablished order (The Columbia Encyclopedia). Julien Tanguy was imprisoned, arrested, and sentenced to death, but he was saved by a friend of Degas named Henri Rouart. Van Gogh chose Tanguy as the subject of his painting, because Tanguy fought for his utopian political beliefs. As in the title of the painting, Van Gogh thought of Tanguy as a father, because they were very close and they shared the same social ideology.

Vincent Van Gogh believed that Japan was a utopian society and that the Japanese gave up their ambitions so that they could live in harmony. Van Gogh once wrote, The weather here remains fine, and if it were always like this, it would be better than the painters paradise, it would be absolute Japan (Kodera, 189). This symbolism explains why Van Gogh put Japanese prints in the background of the picture and Tanguy in the foreground. Tanguy is dressed plainly and wears a planters hat to symbolize his beliefs in the communal system. His simplicity also suggests his political beliefs. Tanguy is positioned like a Buddha statue which means that he is painted symmetrically. Van Gogh is putting Tanguy and the prints in the same picture, because he trying to link them together. Vincent Van Gogh and James Whistler had two different interpretations of Japonisme. Whistler viewed it as a way to make art for beautys sake and Van Gogh saw Japan as a utopian society that he wished he could recreate in Europe. Van Goghs painting associates a person with certain political ideas that they follow, but Whistler focuses less on adding meaning to his picture and instead paints it for beautys sake.

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Works Cited Commune of Paris, Franco-Prussian War. The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. www.bartleby.com/65. 2/27/06 Kodera, Tsukasa. Japan as Primitivistic Utopia: Van Goghs Japonisme Portraits. Simiolus, 1984. Lambourne, Lionel. Japonisme: Cultural Crossings Between Japan and the West. New York: Phaidon Press, 2005. Spencer, Robin. Whistler and Japan: Work in Progress. 1980. 2/27/06. http://libraryres.washcoll.edu.