This paper examines the extent of Asian and African influence on Western European art from the 18th century through the early 20th century, drawing on examples discussed by art historian Ori Soltes. Beginning with the chinoiserie fashions of Louis XIV's court and John Nash's Royal Pavilion in Brighton, the paper traces how European fascination with foreign cultures shaped artistic production. It then explores how Commodore Perry's opening of Japan introduced Japanese prints and etchings to Western audiences, influencing Impressionists such as Manet and Whistler. The paper concludes by analyzing how geometric African masks from Gabon and Zaire directly inspired Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and the emergence of Cubism, arguing that Western contemporary art is ultimately a product of global cross-cultural exchange.
Globalization is generally associated with the modern era; however, it is a global movement that began with the Greeks and did not accelerate until the Renaissance. The West, going back to Alexander the Great, has a long history of interactions with Asia and Africa, through which ideas and goods were consistently traded. This trend accelerated during the age of exploration in the 16th century, when Europeans came into further contact with Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Driven by the quest for gold and natural resources, Western European traders navigated the world, and this had a profound effect back home as Europeans developed an intense interest in the exotic.
That interest blossomed during the 18th and 19th centuries, at the height of Western power and colonialism. Curiosity about foreign cultures permeated all levels of society, and artists incorporated Asian and African artistic styles into their own work. This paper examines the extent of Asian and African influence on Western art by looking at specific examples discussed by Ori Soltes.
European fascination with foreign art began in the world of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI. Examining Chinese Fishing Scene (1742) by François Boucher, a prominent artist of the mid-18th century, one notices obvious Asian influences. The work depicts a world that is vastly different — culturally and linguistically foreign — from the halls of Paris and the rest of Europe (Soltes, "Asia and Africa in the Western Mind"). It presents a serene and idealized view in which relaxed figures are set in a calm waterside setting, contrasting sharply with the woodland and streams of Boucher's Paris.
The Western obsession with foreign cultures continued into the 1800s, as evident in John Nash's Chinese Gallery at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, built for the Prince Regent, later George IV (Soltes). The Pavilion is an extraordinary fusion of Persian and Indian elements — white domes and minarets reminiscent of the Taj Mahal — combined with Gothic windows surrounding the building. Its detailed exterior is subtle compared to the lavish interior, which features a diverse range of themed rooms. Soltes discusses the Chinese Gallery in particular, which incorporates all the favored elements associated with China: Chinese lanterns hanging from the walls, Chinese patterns on the surfaces, decorative vases, and a Chinese statue. Everything was designed to convey a strong sense of China, while the exterior paid tribute to Persian and Turkish elements blended with the Gothic tradition.
The mid-19th century marked a pivotal colonial event: the sailing of Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan. Japan had been a traditional, closed society with limited and controlled exposure to the outside world. Perry's expedition fundamentally changed that, opening Japanese ports and altering East-West relations. Perry brought with him a camera and returned with hundreds of photographs, which were subsequently converted into etchings. By the 1870s and 1880s, an array of etchings depicting the Far East circulated widely across America and Europe. This development reflected a broader aspect of the new imperialism: on one side, raw materials were brought from the East for commercial purposes; on the other, works of art were brought back for patrons and artists.
Édouard Manet's Portrait of Émile Zola captures precisely this cultural moment, depicting one of the Asian etchings that a Westerner could purchase. Soltes notes that a portrait reveals what a person is about, not merely their physical appearance. In Zola's portrait, Manet's crowded desk and open book are visible, but to the right the observer can also see Manet's Olympia hanging beside a drawing of a samurai. To the left, a Japanese screen reinforces the impression that Manet was a cultured man who blended elements of East and West. Impressionists more broadly were drawn to Chinese and Japanese aesthetics. This is evident in James McNeill Whistler's Rose and Silver: The Princess from the Land of Porcelain, in which a European woman is immersed in a Japanese background while maintaining a Gothic S-curved stance (Soltes). She stands on a Chinese carpet and wears a Japanese kimono — a striking synthesis of Eastern and Western visual traditions.
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