A post for you: Japonism & Impressionism
This post is dedicated to the art teacher Alessandra Tombesi and to her students: 3°C of the Calamandrei School, and 3°D of the Pirandello School in Florence, Italy. After studying the Impressionism, the students have been interested in the phenomenon of Japonism, namely the interest of Western artists in the late ‘800, towards the Japanese prints. Some stylistic features of Japanese prints have fascinated the Impressionists. The asymmetry, the graphic plainness, the two-dimensional drawings and the photographic cuts, create dynamic compositions and new spatiality. Here’s how:
– Each student has chosen one of many Japanese prints by Utamaro, Hiroshige and Hukosai
– The images of the prints have been traced on tracing paper with a black marker. The subjects were chosen paying attention to the “shots” and the value of the black outline that characterize these prints
– The images in black &white have been photocopied and cut out with scissors and cutter
– Depending on the subject of the prints, was chosen a impressionistic landscape for inspiration.
– The Impressionist landscape was copied from a picture, and painted with tempera.
– Finally, the students have, created a composition with a two-dimensional subject taken from Japanese print, and a nineteenth-century landscape, pictorial and material, cleverly combined.
