Japonisme :: "Oriental Beauty" - Geisha Painting by Vito Soriano

Where East Meets West

The flat and decorative nature of traditional Asian art makes the oriental artist a master of composition.

The woodblock prints of Utamaro and Yoshitoshi are some of my favorites. I studied Japanese art (ukiyo-e) and Chinese calligraphy to learn their 'secrets' ;-)

Contrary to European art (Western art), Japanese art is extremely minimalist. The simplicity of design and balance of patterns are attained so succesfully with skillfull calligraphic strokes and ingenious play of positive and negative shapes.

Here, I've combined it with chiaroscuro---the western way of painting the atmosphere---to create depth and form instead of the usual flattening in oriental painting.

Japonisme


This painting is a union of eastern and western art. One can say that most of my art has an orientalist attribute in many ways.

For one thing, I think like a typical oriental artist who observes and studies his subject until he internalizes it. Then I create the artwork from my head, stylize and idealize it, and make it all fit a 'grand' design.

The Meiji period in Japan produced similar westernized Japanese art.

It's interesting how the French impressionists and post-impressionists were influenced by Japanese woodblock prints in return. This influence became the popular 'Japonisme' motif that extended as far away as Australia where the Heidelberg School impressionists introduced Japanese motifs and backgrounds in their figurative and landscape masterpieces. Also, the orientalist James Whistler was widely known for his Japonisme aesthetic.

The woodblock prints had a "snapshot" composition that revolutionized western art to this day. Much of the chopped and cropped figures in impressionist paintings have a combined influence from photography and Japanese woodblock prints.



Exotica Island features these other Japonisme:
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Geisha The Bride Young Geisha Samurai The Color of Night