ART NOUVEAU 1890-1910
As European artists sought a new design vocabulary, they were drawn to Japanese woodblock prints that began appearing in Paris in the 1850s. By 1890, these influences had evolved into Art Nouveau. The stylistic synthesis of these kimono and haori designs reveals the cross-fertilization of European and Japanese ideas.
Silk Kimono, Taisho Era
Private Collection
The swirling tendrils on this kimono were a common design element in Art Nouveau, distinguishing it from other design movements.
Alphonse Mucha
Poster for Job cigarette papers, 1898
Czechoslovakia
Silk Haori, Taisho Era
A woodblock print of the type that served as inspiration to the Art Nouveau, with its natural forms and swirling lines.
Suzuki Harunobu
Girl Collecting Chrysanthemum Dew by the Stream, c. 1765
Japan
It would seem the designer of this haori may have had access to the publication pictured below. Art publications from Europe did reach Japan, often brought by Japanese artists who had studied or visited in the West.
A. E. V. Lilley and W. Midgley
A Book of Studies in Plant Form with Some Suggestions for their Application to Design
Published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1896
New York, New York
Silk Kimono, Taisho Era
Private Collection
Peacock feathers were a ubiquitous theme of the Art Nouveau Movement, which was greatly influenced by the arts of Japan. The peacock was a decorative motif in Japan well before this, but this kimono uses the pattern in a Western way.
Arthur Silver
Peacock Feathers fabric design, 1887
England