I
A very interesting essay upon the Japanese art collections in the
National Library was read by Mr. Edward Strange at a meeting of
the Japan Society held last year in London. Mr. Strange proved his
appreciation of Japanese art by an exposition of its principles,--the
subordination of detail to the expression of a sensation or idea, the
subordination of the particular to the general. He spoke especially
of the decorative element in Japanese art, and of the Ukiyo-yé school
of color-printing. He remarked that even the heraldry of Japan, as
illustrated in little books costing only a few pence each, contained
"an education in the planning of conventional ornament." He referred to
the immense industrial value of Japanese stencil designs. He tried to
explain the nature of the advantage likely to be gained in the art of
book illustration from the careful study of Japanese methods; and he
indicated the influence of those methods in the work of such artists
as Aubrey Beardsley, Edgar Wilson, Steinlen Ibels, Whistler, Grasset,
Cheret, and Lautrec. Finally, he pointed out the harmony between
certain Japanese principles and the doctrines of one of the modern
Western schools of Impressionism.
Such an address could hardly fail to provoke adverse criticism in
England, because it suggested a variety of new ideas. English opinion
does not prohibit the importation of ideas: the public will even
complain if fresh ideas be not regularly set before it. But its
requirement of them is aggressive: it wants to have an intellectual
battle over them. To persuade its unquestioning acceptance of new
beliefs or thoughts,--to coax it to jump to a conclusion,--were about
as easy as to make the mountains skip like rams. Though willing to be
convinced, providing the idea does not appear "morally dangerous," it
must first be assured of the absolute correctness of every step in
the mental process by which the novel conclusion has been reached.
That Mr. Strange's just but almost enthusiastic admiration of Japanese
art could pass without challenge was not possible; yet one would
scarcely have anticipated a challenge from the ranks of the Japan
Society itself. The report, however, shows that Mr. Strange's views
were received even by that society in the characteristic English way.
The idea that English artists could learn anything important from
the study of Japanese methods was practically pooh-poohed; and the
criticisms made by various members indicated that the philosophic part
of the paper had been either misunderstood or unnoticed. One gentleman
innocently complained that he could not imagine "why Japanese art
should be utterly wanting in facial expression." Another declared that
there could never have been any lady like the ladies of the Japanese
prints; and he described the faces therein portrayed as "absolutely
insane."
Then came the most surprising incident of the evening,--the
corroboration of these adverse criticisms by his excellency the
Japanese Minister, with the apologetic remark that the prints referred
to "were only regarded as common things in Japan." Common things!
Common, perhaps, in the judgment of other generations; aesthetic
luxuries to-day. The artists named were Hokusai, Toyokuni, Hiroshigé,
Kuniyoshi, Kunisada! But his excellency seemed to think the subject
trifling; for he took occasion to call away the attention of the
meeting, irrelevantly as patriotically, to the triumphs of the war.
In this he reflected faithfully the Japanese _Zeitgeist,_ which can
scarcely now endure the foreign praise of Japanese art. Unfortunately,
those dominated by the just and natural martial pride of the hour
do not reflect that while the development and maintenance of great
armaments--unless effected with the greatest economical caution--might
lead in short order to national bankruptcy, the future industrial
prosperity of the country is likely to depend in no small degree upon
the conservation and cultivation of the national art sense. Nay,
those very means by which Japan won her late victories were largely
purchased by the commercial results of that very art sense to which
his excellency seemed to attach no importance. Japan must continue to
depend upon her aesthetic faculty, even in so commonplace a field of
industry as the manufacture of mattings; for in mere cheap production
she will never be able to undersell China.