HISTORY
Art Deco Silk Kimono,
Taisho Era, 1912-1926
Modern Art Kimono collection
Japan in the Early 1900s
Japan consciously made a major shift in the second half of the 19th century (the Meiji Era) from isolationism to modernization. Government policies that were progressive socially and politically were directly responsible for the emerging modern sensibility in Japanese art.
In the first quarter of the 20th century, especially during the Taisho Era (1912-1926), Japan’s interest in Western art and culture increased dramatically. The country was entering the modern age, with a greater ease of travel, a flow of information, women entering the work force, and, for some, a departure from traditional Japanese values.
Kimono Change with Increased Western Contact
During this time, kimono and haori* remained the mainstay of clothing for women. Their structure did not change, but their surface design began to reflect increased contact with the West, as some designers looked to European art and design for inspiration.
New silk textiles were developed in the late 19th century that were more affordable, and restrictions against anyone but the nobility wearing silk were lifted. Chemical dyes imported from Germany yielded brighter colors, and mechanized looms from France sped production. Lower manufacturing costs meant that new designs were quickly available to common people, and kimono were released from their social-ranking symbolism. These industrial and social reforms helped create a modern fashion industry in Japan.
Workers spooling silk thread, 1920s
These “modern” kimono represented a melding of traditional Japanese sensibilities with new, European-influenced ideas. Although they are presented here as an collection of textile art, it is important to remember that these kimono and haori were garments worn by women. A woman wearing a kimono or haori of European design signified that she was progressive and not entirely traditional. These kimono were no longer just “a thing to wear” (the literal translation of kimono), but fashion and social statements.
RECENT JAPANESE ERAS
Early Modern Japan
Edo Era: 1600-1868
Modern Japan
Meiji Era: 1868-1912
Taisho Era: 1912-1926
Showa Era: 1926-1989
Heisei Era: 1989-2019
(Note: the modern era is a specific period of time and a range of artistic styles; it begins in the late 1800s and continues through the 1960s. Using this definition, we are no longer in the modern period, and the term “modern” is not used here to mean “contemporary” or “current.”)
Silk kimono inspired by
European Impressionism, Taisho Era
Silk kimono inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, Taisho Era
The Taisho Era lasted from 1912 to 1926, and the succeeding Showa Era in its early years had much in common with it. In this period, we see kimono with influences from Impressionism, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Cubism, and other styles that had gone out of favor in the West. The trend of kimono designers to use Western designs seems to have been not only an attempt to be current, but also to explore design ideas and synthesize them in new and interesting ways.
*A haori is a short jacket worn over a kimono for warmth, or to protect the kimono. Its construction is basically the same as that of a kimono. Haori in the Taisho Era became inexpensive fashion items that were more readily put aside when their season ended.
Vincent Van Gogh, Flowering Plum Orchard (after Hiroshige), 1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Cyclical Influences
Modern art movements such as Arts and Crafts, Impressionism, the Vienna Secession, Art Nouveau, Cubism, Futurism, Art Deco and Constructivism are recognizable in the surface design of early 20th century kimono and haori. Many of the major modern artists are represented, such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Raoul Dufy, and Joan Miró, as well as important textile designers of the era such as William Morris, Sonia Delaunay, Ruth Reeves, and others.
European artists had been fascinated by Japanese art and objects ever since the first Japanese woodblock prints appeared in Paris in the 1850s. Artists such as Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, and Tiffany were enthusiastic collectors. Mary Cassat, James Whistler, Arthur Dow, and Frank Lloyd Wright journeyed to Japan to study its arts. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, the Vienna Secession, and Art Deco were all heavily influenced by Japanese art.
Tile from the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, 1922. Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
By the 1860s in Paris, several stores specializing in Asian imports were offering Japanese art and objects, and clubs and gatherings formed to discuss them. At the Paris World Exposition in 1867, French artists were exposed to an extensive exhibition of Japanese artifacts. Vincent and Theo Van Gogh organized two exhibitions of Japanese prints in the 1880s, and Van Gogh’s painting over time shows the increasing influence of them. Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithographs could almost be called Japanese prints with French subject matter.
After the opening of Japan to the West in the 1850s, goods and ideas flowed into that country. Magazines, newspapers, radio and other new mass media brought information about Western trends. Japanese artists who had studied in Europe, and who identified as Futurist, Cubist, Surrealist, etc, exhibited regularly in Japan, and were some of the disseminators of modern art in Japan.
Department stores in Japan held important art exhibitions, both original art and reproductions, which was where kimono designers were possibly exposed to modern art—especially since beginning in the Taisho Era, kimono were sold in these stores.
In the Taisho Era—the 1910s and 1920s—the latest designs and fashions from Paris made a big impression in Japan. At the same time, the Parisian designer Paul Poiret began introducing kimono-like, loosely structured garments. By 1920, the corset had disappeared, and most women’s clothing was structured from rectangular shapes rather than from tailoring that closely followed the contours of the body, or attempted to change them. Another wave of Japanese artistic influence was sweeping through Europe and America, this time in the fashion houses.
Coats designed by Paul Poiret
Metropolitan Museum of New York,
New York City, New York
By 1900, Japanese artistic concepts were part of Europe’s artistic vocabulary. In Europe, this influence would primarily manifest as Art Nouveau, while in Britain the handcraft associated with Japanese woodcuts and other objects would inform the Arts and Crafts movement. In 1920, the Mingei movement, Japan’s arts and crafts movement, was started.
Paris only became a major influence in the history of Japanese modern art in 1896, after Kuroda Seiki returned from a decade of study in France. He was appointed by the Tokyo School of Fine Art’s Western Painting Section as director that year, and his influence was immediate.
By 1900, the education of new artists and designers had merged Western perspectives with Japanese culture. They began introducing international trends through publications and exhibitions, which continued in the first decades of the 20th century. And as Japanese artists studied in Europe and returned to Japan, they were ready to incorporate new Western ideas.
Modern Girl, by Takabatake Kasho, wearing a kimono with Western hairstyle and accessories, 1930
Contributing Factors
The development of a modern garment industry in Japan and the “modern kimono” were spurred by several factors. Starting in the late 1800s, Japan sought to become an exporter of goods to the world. It began attending world expositions in 1863, and in 1876 started participating in them. The Japanese were exposed to the cultures of Europe and the United States, and Japan was now visible to world.
At the Paris World Exhibition of 1900, Japan came under serious criticism for what was perceived to be inferior design and lack of utility. Taking this to heart, Japanese designers traveled to Europe to attend design schools that taught the contemporary art movements of the time. European designers were also brought to Japan to establish design schools under government sponsorship. Students learning about contemporary art movements directly influenced many of the kimono designs from this time.
In 1854, the United States forced the opening of Japan to the Western world. The subsequent Meiji Era (1868-1912) saw the Japanese government encouraging the wearing of Western clothing as part of a drive to modernize the country. By the turn of the century, many urban women had responded by wearing kimono and haori with modern European-influenced design. In this way, they remained thoroughly Japanese, while simultaneously showing that they belonged to the modern world.
Many of pieces in this collection were created after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. This catastrophic event killed over 140,000 inhabitants and leveled Tokyo, forcing Japan to embark on vast reconstruction programs. A subsequent interest in modernization and Westernization developed in many aspects of Japanese culture, leading the fashion industry to integrate novel design elements into traditional forms.
Meisen Technique “Mass-Produced” Kimono and Haori Become Fashionable
During the Taisho Era, adventurous young women (moga, or “modern girl”) sometimes wore haori—a short kimono jacket—over a Western-style dress with Western hairstyles, jewelry, makeup, and shoes. These were often meisen haori in bold patterns and colors. The collection contains several kimono and haori made with the meisen technique, which was developed in the late 1800s. The technique is related to earlier methods such as kasuri (ikat), in which threads are resisted before dyeing and weaving. It is identifiable by the soft, blurred edges of the motifs created as the pre-dyed threads shift slightly as they are woven.
The silk itself is machine-spun from damaged silk cocoons. The entire process was much faster and cheaper than any used before, and these “mass-produced” kimono and haori were the first to be sold “off the rack” in department stores, and the first to become fashion items.
Every spring, fashion-conscious young Japanese women would await the new designs, with either European-borrowed motifs or traditional motifs enlarged to such a scale that they became graphic. Last season’s kimono and haori would be put away, not to be worn again.
As these kimono became more popular and the demand increased, designers were prompted to create more complex and innovative designs. Geometric motifs were often combined with florals to create a modern look that still referenced the traditional—often inspired by the Art Deco and Cubist movements. These kimono and haori were regarded as informal, novelty items, fresh in design but not meant to be a treasured and timeless part of a woman’s wardrobe. Meisen kimono and haori were popular with women in the work force, as they were sturdy and easier to clean.
The Taisho Era was a period of modernization not just for Japan, but for the world. The world was in a state of flux and how modernism would shape it was not entirely clear. New modes of communication and transportation made contact with distant places easier and faster. For instance, it became possible to travel by train from Tokyo to Paris in about three weeks via the Trans-Siberian Railway.
During the Showa Era (1926-1989), a fierce nationalism accompanied increased militarization by the mid-1930s, and the influence of outside design lessened. The Japanese government’s shifted priorities did not include the arts and Western contributions to them. Silk was taxed to help pay for the military, and simpler designs that were less expensive to produce became popular. After World War II, Western clothing almost completely replaced traditional Japanese clothing, and kimono production waned to a fraction of what it once had been, along with many of its skill-intense techniques.
