revolution by simplicity

Many developments in 19th century art reflect the influence of Japan. Artists such as Manet experimented with flattened forms after seeing Japanese prints. Vincent van Gogh collected hundreds of Japanese prints, and they influenced his use of brilliant colors and heavy outlines. Larger artistic movements such as Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau have a great deal of Japonisme at their root. Though the primary Japonisme craze was in the 1880's and 90's, artists and designers continued to use elements of the style for some time, particularly when dealing with Japanese themes.

With respect to book-binding, cover designers employed a variety of techniques that reflected an interest in Japanese style. In the Victorian period, covers that didn't necessarily look Japanese showed the influence through the use of asymmetrical design, strong diagonals, oriental typefaces and motives, and a variety of fill patterns.

In the move away from more gaudy Victorian covers, many designers appreciated the simplicity of some of Japanese style. Some covers mimicked the binding style of Japanese books, or Japanese paper. Others used an oriental style typeface or actual Japanese characters. Asymmetrical design continued to be popular as well as imitations of the flat Japanese landscape style. Many of the covers of books by author Lafcadio Hearn are done in these styles, reflecting his subject matter and immigration to Japan.

Certain known cover designers showed influence by Japonisme. Some of Sarah Wyman Whitman's simple elegant designs have evidence of roots in Japonisme, while others use more explicit Japanese motifs, although she herself denounced the gaudy 1880s eclectic covers that "represented a combination of bad French art mixed with Japanese art; scrolls and arabesques, which had to do with some debased form of book cover mixed with a bit of Japanese fan." Several covers by Bertha Stuart, who designed primarily between 1903 and 1911 show a strong Japanese influence as well.

not, i will admit, wholly new, but i believe all of these extraordinary images are, new to this blog. much much more at the website where these words come from, HERE. these designers, they take my breath away. see more from this blog (including links) HERE.

Sarah Wyman Whitman

Sarah Wyman Whitman was a true pioneer of American book design. Not because of her gender (though she certainly was a path-breaker for working woman artists) but for her seminal graphic sensibility, which transcended the commonplaces of Victorian-era book design. Whitman was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1842. She might have settled into bourgeois life after marrying the prosperous wool merchant Henry Whitman in 1866, but instead, she embarked on a serious artistic career. She studied painting and drawing in France, but she was most profoundly influenced by the burgeoning Arts and Crafts movement in England, championed by William Morris and others. (more)

more about whitman, and more of her book designs here.

and, again, here.

It has been said that she began “the golden age of American artist-designed bindings” of the 1880s, and that her particular style of lettering and stylized decorative vignettes anticipated what developed into the Art Nouveau style of the next decade. (more)

and here --

and yet more here

this all because of harlequinpan who identified this artist for this book. and i have to admit. it's my favorite.

and i must also admit i have more book designers coming along soon....






oh, did i mention whitman was also a painter? in the mfa collection, of course.

japonisme: books part I

i was thrilled to find an online bookseller with an entire section devoted to japonisme! handsome books, and the descriptions of the books, the authors, the designers and illustrators, and of japonisme itself, are priceless.

here is an illustration by sanchi ogawa for a book called japanese fairy tales, by teresa pierce williston. this brings me to a question to which i don't yet know the answer: why were children's books, around the world, so quick to embrace japonisme? maybe i'll learn that while i do this blog.

this beautiful cover is from c. yarnall abbott. while the previous example was a purely japanese scene done in a somewhat western manner, this image is clearly directly inspired by the japanese print: both subject and style.









this as well is another stunning example of the western hand borrowing from the east. even the lettering is designed not so much to imitate japanese calligraphy as to imitate japanese architecture!

the book, from 1902, is designed by sarah wyman whitman.

these and many more can be seen at the bookstore website, at the bookstore itself, and, along with many other booksellers, on ebay (user name: handbooks). i've discovered that ebay is a wonderful way to see old illustrated books; many sellers even display the entire book's illustrations: what a joy!