Alcune influenze delle illustrazioni giapponesi nell’arte decorativa italiana di primo Novecento

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Japanese artists specialized in producing illustrations and patterns useful for decoration in applied arts (zuan) or textiles. They were made with the woodcut printing tecnique and were sold as catalogues for the sale of products, or as a source of inspiration for decorators of applied art objects. The artists, now in contact with professionals and artists from the West, were inspired by European art nouveau and art déco, which they could study in books, photographs, or by traveling in Europe, they created these illustrations with typically oriental colors but experimenting with wavy lines and com- pletely new graphic shapes. Most of these drawings had as their main subjects elements of nature, such as plants, flowers and leaves derived from the long tradition of oriental painting. In this contribution, taking the works of the artist Furuya Kōrin (1875-1910) as a case study, we’ll see these illustrations flourished in Japan from Western inspirations but then arrived in Europe through exhibitions and private collecting and, in turn, influenced the production of Italian graphics of the early twentieth century.