Japanese works from the Château de Fontainebleau - Art and diplomacy.
Faton editions| N° d'inventaire | 23972 |
| Format | 22 x 22 |
| Détails | 144 p., 100 illustrations, paperback. |
| Publication | Dijon, 2021 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782878442878 |
The exhibition Art and Diplomacy. Japanese Works from the Château de Fontainebleau (1862-1864) will open in the château's rooms during the Art History Festival on June 5, 2021, and will remain on display until July 6, 2021. It will present to the public diplomatic gifts offered by the penultimate Shogun Iemochi to Napoleon III, during two Japanese embassies in 1862 and 1864. Once exhibited and admired, this collection of works of art was subsequently stored in the château's reserves and gradually forgotten. The exhibition will be an opportunity to rediscover them.
The roving embassies of 1862 and 1864 aimed to gauge the intentions of European governments and attempt to renegotiate the so-called unequal treaties that had just been signed following the forced opening of Japan by Commodore Perry in 1854. Japan, through its position in the Sinicized world, had extensive experience in the art of gift-giving. Drawing on this tradition, it sent paintings, lacquer objects, and objects made of other materials to France. Japanese diplomatic archives provide information on the care taken in the selection of the works and the manufacturing process, and how they were sometimes adapted to Western taste. These gifts were primarily intended to enable Japan to demonstrate its prestige on the international stage. But their presence at the Château de Fontainebleau is also part of the great tradition of European elites' taste for East Asian art, on the eve of the emergence of Japonism.
At the crossroads of two worlds, this exhibition brings to life a collection of works with a special status, situated at a period of transition when Japan was taking its first steps onto the international scene. It is the result of discoveries made by a team of French and Japanese researchers and curators.
Exhibition catalog.
The exhibition Art and Diplomacy. Japanese Works from the Château de Fontainebleau (1862-1864) will open in the château's rooms during the Art History Festival on June 5, 2021, and will remain on display until July 6, 2021. It will present to the public diplomatic gifts offered by the penultimate Shogun Iemochi to Napoleon III, during two Japanese embassies in 1862 and 1864. Once exhibited and admired, this collection of works of art was subsequently stored in the château's reserves and gradually forgotten. The exhibition will be an opportunity to rediscover them.
The roving embassies of 1862 and 1864 aimed to gauge the intentions of European governments and attempt to renegotiate the so-called unequal treaties that had just been signed following the forced opening of Japan by Commodore Perry in 1854. Japan, through its position in the Sinicized world, had extensive experience in the art of gift-giving. Drawing on this tradition, it sent paintings, lacquer objects, and objects made of other materials to France. Japanese diplomatic archives provide information on the care taken in the selection of the works and the manufacturing process, and how they were sometimes adapted to Western taste. These gifts were primarily intended to enable Japan to demonstrate its prestige on the international stage. But their presence at the Château de Fontainebleau is also part of the great tradition of European elites' taste for East Asian art, on the eve of the emergence of Japonism.
At the crossroads of two worlds, this exhibition brings to life a collection of works with a special status, situated at a period of transition when Japan was taking its first steps onto the international scene. It is the result of discoveries made by a team of French and Japanese researchers and curators.
Exhibition catalog.