Anglo-Japanese style
The Anglo-Japanese style developed in Britain from the 1850s to the 1910s, when a new appreciation for Japanese design reshaped British decorative arts and architecture. The term 'Anglo-Japanese' dates from 1851; the style took off after the 1862 International Exhibition and was popularized in the 1870s by Edward William Godwin, whose ebonized furniture for William Watt was its classic expression. Christopher Dresser - the first European designer to visit Japan, in 1876-77 - went beyond copying to distill Japanese principles of asymmetry and simplification. Centers of the style were London and Glasgow, and it flowed into Aestheticism, Liberty's shop, and eventually British Art Nouveau. Across ceramics, metalwork, wallpapers, and interiors, the style was Britain's most sustained act of design translation from Japan.
Defining characteristics
- Ebonized (black-lacquered) finishes on furniture and joinery
- Asymmetry (fukinsei) and simplified, sparsely ornamented layouts
- Nature motifs: mon crests, prunus, pine, chrysanthemum, storks, fans
- Refined, spare lines with minimal applied ornament
- Flattened decorative surfaces inspired by ukiyo-e prints and katagami stencils
Key figures
- Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) — Industrial designer who distilled Japanese principles in metalware, ceramics, and his 1882 book on Japan
- Edward William Godwin (1833-1886) — Architect-designer who popularized the style with ebonized furniture and interiors
- Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917) — Merchant whose Regent Street store spread Japanese-inspired goods and fabrics
- James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) — Painter-decorator of Aesthetic interiors, including the Peacock Room
Example works
- Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen — James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1864)
- The Peacock Room — Thomas Jeckyll and James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1876-1877)
- Teapot — Christopher Dresser (1879)
Sources
- Anglo-Japanese style - Wikipedia encyclopedia