|
Japanese influence in Modern Furniture Design.
 |
Japanese influence in Modern Furniture Design. The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 200 years of stability to Japan - running from 1603 to 1867. A new urban culture evolved for the first time, in which a tremendous emphasis was placed on quality of workmanship, especially in the arts. Toward the end of this period and throughout the Kaei era (1848 - 1854) that followed it Japan began to open to foreign trade, (forcibly and in a very limited manner at first and later more universally) - The exchange of ideas and technologies was tremendous in both directions. In Europe - most notably in France - a new artistic and aesthetic style called Japonism took hold like a wild fire. Artists such as van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, James McNeill Whistler began to study an collect Japanese wood block prints and of course their facination was quickly reflected in their own works and those of their peers. The Greco Roman aesthetic that prevailed in European art until this time, had long emphasized elements such as perspective, moulded form, (use of light and shadow to produce the effect of three dimensionality), realism and, particularly in northern europe a very muted and conservative use of color. Japanese art consisted of off centered arrangements with no perspective. light with no shadows and vibrant colors on plane surfaces. Ukiyo-e prints from teh Edo period are characterized by curved lines, textural contrast - with patterned and flat areas of color ubutting one another. It is generally believed that Art Nouveau's use of flat pattern, curved line and floral motif - was much inspired by these. These forms and flat blocks of color were also the precursors to abstract art and to modernism. Art Nouveau furniture designers such as Charles Rene MacIntosh produced pieces which is in many ways already modern classics. Indeed the furniture designs of McIntosh are often sold along side Bauhaus designs. The students and teachers of the famous Bauhaus school of design are widely celebrated for their creation of modernism in architecture and furniture design. What they produced was a tremendous departure from western design before this time - and in part this paradign shift was inspired by the fabulously clean and stark lines of art and design finding its way to europe from Asia and Africa at this time. Isamu Noguchi 1904 - 1988, American born half Japanese Designer and Sculptor is perhaps most famous for intentionally creating a fusion between Japanese and Western aesthetics. Isamu grew up in both the US and Japan and is heralded perhaps more than any other individual for his personal contribution to Japanese inspired modernism in the west. Then there was Charlotte Perriand who's tubular metal furniture designs for Le Corbusier's studio made her famous. Perriand was hired as a consultant to the Japanese ministry of Trade and Industry in 1940 and spent many years in Japan and Vietnam, learning as well teaching. Of course these trends continue in contemporary furniture design today, and as modern technologies continue to make the world smaller such influences will with time, surely evolve further and grow stronger, in both directions. |
About Furniture
|
