Influence of Japan

Japan up until the 1850's was closed off from the west (besides the Dutch who could trade but only at one very specific port in the south of japan) so when trade resumed, the west became enamoured with Japanese art and design. This craze that blossomed in the late ninetieth century was given the name Japonisme by the French. Ukiyo-e woodblock prints had a huge influence on many western artists, and inspired elongated pictorial formats, asymmetrical compositions, and aerial perspective. 

Mary Cassatt

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Mary Cassatt is an artist who you can see has clearly been influenced by the spread of Japanese art throughout the west. the paintings above and bellow are all done by Cassatt, however there styles differ. in the ones above you can see obvious Japanese influence, due to the amount of space left around the figures and the asymmetrical composition the art takes. while with the one below there is a lack of space within the painting; compared to the ones above it looks quite cluttered and full. the Japanese influenced paintings have far fewer details and are flat in comparison to the one below, which uses many colours to fill in the space and has noticeable brush strokes within the painting to give it dimension. the paintings above also have to combination of stylisation and realism mixed into them which a noticeable characteristic of Japanese art, unlike the painting below which takes on a more realistic approach, especially with the figure.