Japanese Painting in Search of Western Realism

Conference at 18 p.m. by Christine Shimizu, Honorary General Curator of Heritage.

What was the impact of European realism on Japanese painting? Contacts between Europe and Japan began with the discovery of the islands in the 18th century by the Portuguese. During the XNUMXth century, Japanese artists discovered forms of European pictorial expression with the help of engravings, books and a few rare paintings imported by the Dutch to Nagasaki. This westernizing movement finds a place of choice in Akita, in the northeast of Japan. It will leave a lasting mark on Japanese production: Hokusai is one of the testimonies.