Scott Abel

Whistler and Van Gogh in Japonisme

Paintings by James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Vincent Van Gogh represent the

two different ideas that reflected Japonisme in nineteenth century Europe and America.

James Whistler demonstrates his association with Japan and the Aesthetic Movement in

his painting, Caprice in Purple and Gold, No. 2: The Golden Screen. Meanwhile,

Vincent Van Gogh depicts Japan as a primitive utopian society and demonstrates this in

his painting, Le Père Tanguy. Not only do these paintings differ in subject matter, but

also in their symbolism.

The subject of Whistler’s 1864 painting, Caprice in Purple and Gold, No. 2: The

Golden Screen, is a woman dressed in a kimono looking at Japanese prints made by

Hiroshige. The painting was of an Irish model named Jo Heffernan who was also

Whistler’s mistress. Jo is wearing a lot of makeup to make her face look very pale and

she is wearing a purple, orange, and white kimono with a lot of flowers on it. The focal

point of the painting is the orange part of her kimono. The kimono has a great deal of

contrast between the purple and white on it. She is looking at a series of landscape prints

known as Famous Views in the Sixty-odd Provinces made by Hiroshige. In front of the

model, there are flowers, porcelain, and a black and brown box. Jo is sitting on a brown

carpet and behind her is a golden Japanese screen depicting scenes from the Japanese

novel, Tale of Genji. The picture has a great amount of detail in it. The palette has a lot

of white, gold, and purple in it. The composition of the painting allows for the subject

and the background to appear farther away from each other.

James Whistler painted with a Japanese theme because he viewed Japan as a place

where there was no need to compromise between truth and beauty, because truth was

beauty. This idea, beauty for beauty’s sake, was known as aestheticism. Whistler had

never been to Japan and he often confused Japan with China. Robin Spencer said,

“Whistler made little distinction between Japan and China (Spencer 60).” Therefore, one

can conclude that Whistler imagined Japan in an unrealistic matter. Whistler used

Japanese objects that he thought were beautiful, such as the screen, the porcelain, the

Japanese prints, and the kimono. Whistler generally believed Japanese items were

beautiful, so he incorporated them in his paintings. Once he observed some prints in the

Japanese style by Fantin, he responded, “…j’ai été cette fois si plus surpris que jamais

par la brilliant et le purété de ces bouquets (Spencer 65).” Roughly translated this means,

“I was very surprised this time by the brilliance and purity of the bouquet.” He enjoyed

Fantin’s still life paintings and thought they were beautiful. Furthermore, the description

of the work implies that the focus of the picture is not on the subject, but rather the lively

use colors and the overall beauty of the picture.

Vincent Van Gogh painted Le Père Tanguy in 1887 and 1888. The background of

the picture has a palette of light colors such as yellow, light brown and green and depicts

Japanese prints on the wall behind Tanguy. Throughout the entire picture you may see

the individual brush strokes and this creates a less realistic effect. This painting doesn’t

have a licked surface and the facture is not smooth at all. Although there is less detail

than in Whistler’s painting, there is still enough detail to depict Tanguy’s glasses in his

pocket, the detail of his hand, and his knuckles. Furthermore, the direction of the

brushstroke and the modeling of different shades of blue create a sense of volume in the

jacket. Also, there is a great deal of plasticity in the representation of Monsieur

Tanguy’s skin and pants. Van Gogh effectively paints Tanguy’s eyes, white beard, and

pale face. The light source is to Tanguy’s left, so Tanguy’s right side is slightly darker

that his left side as a result. Many of the people in the figures represented, including

Tanguy are outlined in red to an exotic effect.

Not only was this painting influenced by Asian art, but it also depicts Julien

Tanguy’s political philosophy. Emile Bernard stated, “Julien Tanguy, who read L’ecrit

du Peuple and L’Intransigeant assiduously, believed in that absolute love which h

brought all mankind together and destroyed the individual struggles of ambition, always

so bitter cruel (Kodera, 194).” Julien Tanguy volunteered to fight for his ideology in the

aftermath of the humiliating French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871

when the city of Paris severed its ties with the national government headed by Adolphe

Thiers and the National Assembly at Versailles. Parisians elected their own municipal

council called the Commune of 1871 and were protected by the Paris National Guard.

However, the Versailles troops fought in the streets of Paris for five weeks against people

like Julien Tanguy and the Paris National Guard. The Commune was defeated and the

Versailles troops reestablished order (The Columbia Encyclopedia). Julien Tanguy was

imprisoned, arrested, and sentenced to death, but he was saved by a friend of Degas

named Henri Rouart. Van Gogh chose Tanguy as the subject of his painting, because

Tanguy fought for his utopian political beliefs. As in the title of the painting, Van Gogh

thought of Tanguy as a father, because they were very close and they shared the same

social ideology.

Vincent Van Gogh believed that Japan was a utopian society and that the

Japanese gave up their ambitions so that they could live in harmony. Van Gogh once

wrote, “The weather here remains fine, and if it were always like this, it would be better

than the painter’s paradise, it would be absolute Japan (Kodera, 189).” This symbolism

explains why Van Gogh put Japanese prints in the background of the picture and Tanguy

in the foreground. Tanguy is dressed plainly and wears a planter’s hat to symbolize his

beliefs in the communal system. His simplicity also suggests his political beliefs.

Tanguy is positioned like a Buddha statue which means that he is painted symmetrically.

Van Gogh is putting Tanguy and the prints in the same picture, because he trying to link

them together.

Vincent Van Gogh and James Whistler had two different interpretations of

Japonisme. Whistler viewed it as a way to make art for beauty’s sake and Van Gogh saw

Japan as a utopian society that he wished he could recreate in Europe. Van Gogh’s

painting associates a person with certain political ideas that they follow, but Whistler

focuses less on adding meaning to his picture and instead paints it for beauty’s sake.

I promise to abide by the Washington College Honor Code: _______________________

Works Cited

“Commune of Paris, Franco-Prussian War.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. New

York: Columbia University Press, 2004. www.bartleby.com/65. 2/27/06

Kodera, Tsukasa. Japan as Primitivistic Utopia: Van Gogh’s Japonisme Portraits.

Simiolus, 1984.

Lambourne, Lionel. Japonisme: Cultural Crossings Between Japan and the West.

New York: Phaidon Press, 2005.

Spencer, Robin. Whistler and Japan: Work in Progress. 1980. 2/27/06.

http://libraryres.washcoll.edu.