Posted by John Fiorillo on July 24, 1998 at 01:27:38:
In Reply to: Relationship between Japanese & European Art posted by Bea MacGregor on July 23, 1998 at 10:46:16:
: I need some help in a description of a Degas painting. "Degas was influenced by Japanese are (particulary works by Hokusai), which contributed to his unusual compositions that combined ellipitical shortcuts, close-ups & truncated figures". I am at a loss as to the "simple meaning" of elliptical in this sense. I am doing a study for a National Organizztion in Michigan & need some guidance re- the inspiration some European artists had from the Japanese Wood Block Prints.
RESPONSE FROM JF: The reference to "elliptical shortcuts" does not refer to a geometrical ellipse or the special use of curves in composition, though, of course, there are examples of curving perspective spaces in both Japanese and western art. Rather, the reference is to an alternate meaning of elliptical, namely, "with an element omitted, cryptic, enigmatic, indefinite, oblique," and so on. Hence the linking with the word "shortcuts" in the phrase you quoted. What is meant is more likely the influence of Japanese compositional techniques in which there is purposeful asymmetry, cutting off of figures, incompletions, interruption of continuous space, multiple perspectives, unexpected juxtapositions, exaggerations, and so on – all this, of course, relative to the traditional principles of western drawing that many western artists were challenging in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Thus Degas and his contemporaries were inspired by various examples of Japanese art to explore what was for them new, alternative, and sometimes highly conscious compositional choices. Refer to the numerous publications on the influence of "Japonisme" on the Impressionists.