Prior to the course I had a vague idea of the sort of area that I wanted to study. But it was clear from the first assignments that I needed to refine the research proposal significantly. I learned that I needed to avoid assuming that influences would be present without supporting evidence. I also needed to find my own voice in the essay rather than relying on quotes from others.

I undertook an extensive literature review over the course of the first three assignments, to undertake this fully I became a member of the National Art Library and obtained a Reader Pass for the British Library. I also discovered the Lisa Sainsbury Library which is part of The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures; this proved an invaluable resource for my study.

During the first three assignments I researched not just Japanese art, but also the topic of Orientalism, which I had previously heard of but did not understand in any detail. At the same time, I was investigating a theoretical framework for analysis of the work I would be studying. By the end of Assignment three I was appreciating that it needed more than just a formal analysis of the different artworks, but that the contextual influences of the time were equally important.

By the time I submitted my first draft of the essay in Assignment four I had narrowed the topic down substantially. I decided to concentrate on three artists (having initially considered perhaps writing about four) and selected Van Gogh, Redon and Boies Hopkins who had each produced significant floral images. I chose these three artists as I wanted to consider a range of style, technique and medium. I was also keen to not to have three male artists. Edna Boies Hopkins was an interesting choice, an artist I had not come across before I started my research. The one area I found difficult in the essay was the lack of literature concerning Boies Hopkins compared to Redon and Van Gogh. This made comparison between the three artists more challenging, particularly when considering contextual influences.

From feedback on Assignment four I learned that I was probably using too many direct quotes, that I needed to paraphrase or use my own words more, and not to leave ‘dangling quotes” at the ends of paragraphs. Apart from anything else, relying less on direct quotes enabled me to write more in my own style and use my creativity more. From the feedback I also learned of the importance of introducing sections with a summary of what I will be writing about in that section, of improving the linkages between sections and the need to refer to the theoretical framework throughout.

I am very satisfied with the way that my essay has developed over the five assignments of this course. Although it is much more focused than the original proposal, nevertheless I have been able to research an area that I was particularly interested in. I have learned so much from the research -about Japanese art, I have discovered an artist I had not come across before, and I now know much more about the work of Van Gogh and Redon. I have learned more about Orientalism and how it may manifest itself.

I think that the theoretical framework I used – formal and contextual analysis – has provided the biggest learning curve. I had undertaken formal analysis of works of art on previous History of Art courses but using it to the extent that I did in this essay has given me a richer understanding of how contextual influences can affect an artist’s work – including my own!

I was pleased with the feedback on my fourth assignment, on the positive side the first draft of the essay was good with wide research. I had also picked up cross-cultural points and explored style appropriation.

To improve the essay I need better framing, to keep the theoretical framework in focus throughout the essay, to improve the introduction to each section and the linkages between sections. I also need to work on the conclusion section to emphasise what has been discovered.

These are all valid points that will improve the final essay and ones that I will work on for Assignment 5.

I feel as though I am starting to make progress with the essay now, taking on board my tutors comments from last time I have tried to tighten up on the essay title and reduced the amount of space devoted to the Is Japonisme a form of Orientalism debate. As suggested I have also widened the scope to look at more than a single artwork from each artist – I think this has allowed me to consider how the influence of Japanese art changed over time with each artist.

I think what I have learned most from this part assignment is the importance of the contextual aspects when considering an artist’s work. Many people have analysed Van Gogh’s Sunflowers whether looking at Japanese or Impressionist influences on the composition, brushwork, use of colour etc. What I found most interesting though is that if Van Gogh had not had an idealised vision of Japan and the lives of  Japanese artists, then Sunflowers may never have been painted, certainly not in the way we view it today.

I did struggle at times to complete the work, due to the lockdown the two libraries I used the most (National Art Library and Sainsbury Library of Japanese Art and Culture) have been closed throughout. Access to the British Library and Tate Library was restricted and I was unable to visit. Although many works are now available online in the UCA Library it is very frustrating to find a book you want, only to discover that only a physical copy is available in the UCA Library.

The Tate Library has been helpful offering to scan pages or chapters from books that they hold, and I did use their services for some pages of Wildentein’s Catalogue Raisonee of Odilon Redon’s work. But the problem is you need to know exactly which pages you would like copied, and you don’t always know that if you haven’t been able to quickly scan through the work or look at the index.

Still, with the research I was able to do before lockdown, I believe that I have been able to introduce a good number of references and produce a significant Bibliography.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all I am learning about Japanese Art together with its influence on Van Gogh, Redon and Boies Hopkins. In some ways I think that is an argument for the essay to look at the influence on just one of these artists, there is plenty to write about, but I think my essay benefits from looking at the three artists as you can then compare and contrast the different ways in which they reacted to the influences.

Talking about the influence of Japanese art, in my research I came across Surimono, which were high quality woodblock prints which contained an image and a poem. Often they were produced by poetry groups in the Edo period who commissioned an artist to create an image in response to a poem that had been written. I was taken with this concept and adopted (appropriated) the idea to work with a published poet on combined work of image and poem.

We have produced 14 so far and are both keen to continue – but it has helped me to understand how the artist were influenced by Japanese art. Once you see something that you would like to use in your own work, it becomes a very powerful driver.

© Poem Anne Osbourn and Photograph Bob Coe

I had good feedback on my 3rd Assignment, I need to finalise the research question as I am probably going too deep at the moment into the concepts of Japonisme and Orientalism. Although these are both intrinsic to the work I am doing I shouldn’t spend too much time discussing whether Japonisme is a form of Orientalism – it is – and although there is more to discuss on it, I shouldn’t get too bogged down on that aspect of the essay.

My existing data collection was good but I probably needed to build on it and I could well benefit from looking at several floral images from each artist rather than selecting just one.

It was suggested that  in future I avoid using terms like ‘Orient’ or ‘East’ or ‘West’ which are all constructs and it would be much better to be more specific e.g. ‘Japanese art’ or Dutch art’. I will bear this in mind as I write more and will go through what I have written so far to use more appropriate (and accurate) terms. I did raise the question about using quotes that contain such terms, as a number of the texts were written when such terms were in widespread use. It seems that it is OK to use such quotes, but to be aware of their appropriateness.

My research work involves looking into Japonisme and the possibility that this may be a form of Orientalism.

Japonisme defined as “French term used to describe a range of European borrowings from Japanese art” (Floyd 2003). In his book Orientalism (Said 1978) used the term to describe “the way the West has created a mythological identity about the East” (Wilson & Lack 2016:208).

For my Research module I am writing about three artists whose work is acknowledged to have been influenced by Japanese art and considering whether this constitutes a form of Orientalism.

For my Body of Work I am producing a series of images and OCA requires that I demonstrate how my work has been influenced by my research. I have, therefore,  been explaining how my study of Japanese art has influenced my photography.

This rather begs the question, does the fact that I have been studying Japanese art and allowed it to influence my work mean that my images are Orientalist? Is this not exactly the same thing that Vincent Van Gogh, Odilon Redon and Edna Boies Hopkins were doing towards the turn of the 19th/20th century? If my research were to lead to the conclusion that their images were orientalist then surely mine would be to.

My research still has a long way to go before I can answer the question with any degree of certainty, but it has given plenty of food for thought. It has also given me an insight into those artists that were influenced by Japonisme and how they took on board the influences.

References

Floyd, P. (2003) Japonisme. At: https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T044421  (Accessed 21/10/2019).

Said, E. (1978) Orientalism. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Wilson, S. and Lack, J. (2016) The Tate Guide to Modern Art Terms. London: Tate Publishing.

I found this part of the course a little frustrating as the exercises in the handbook didn’t seem to tie in too well with a traditional art history style essay. But I persevered and looking back I think that I have moved the essay on that bit further.

I’ve changed course slightly as a result of my findings on this part of the course. In the data gathering part of the section I researched more about the artists view of Japan and Japanese art. This ranged from Vincent Van Gogh, who had a very idealised (and very misplaced) view of Japanese culture and society mostly derived from novels and journals, to Edna Boies Hopkins who visited Japan and studied the Japanese technique of woodblock printing while she was there. In between was Odilon Redon who, while never havng visited Japan, had studied East and South East Asian religion and spirituality. Therefore, rather than looking at the influence of Japanese art on the work of 3 or 4 European or North American artists, it seemed to me that the question of whether or not Japonisme was a form of Orientalism became more relevant.

Consequently I changed the research question to “Is Japonisme a Form of Orientalism?  An analysis with particular reference to floral images produced by artists in Europe and America in the period 1880-1920”.