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portrayed, especially for illustrations accompanying epic stories (Hokusai Online, 2008). The elegant

mastery of late ukiyo-e is well defined by Kuniyoshi, one of the last masters of his style (image 5a). In

image 5, Kuniyoshi and Aubrey Beardsley are compared: both focal subjects are holding a decapitated

head, with the emotion in the faces of both subjects being extremely expressive. Also notice the delicate

patterning, organic motifs and the use of space for composition which includes typography. Beardsley's

monotone work is reminiscent of early ukiyo-e as well, such as Moronobu’s work (see image 1).

Images 5: Compare late ukiyo-e prints (Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1845-1846) with Art

Nouveau illustration and design (Beardsly’s Salomé, 1893).

Countless other Art Nouveau artists were influenced by ukiyo-e and it’s explicitly Japanese flavour:

particularly the linework, colour and motifs were drawn from (Meggs, 2011). Art Nouveau took what

Europeans knew about art and created a new style by infusing it with an Eastern feeling and making it their

own. Art Nouveau’s organic and “whiplash” lines can be directly linked to ukiyo-e and without Japanese art

being introduced to the West, much of modern art would not have come into being (Meggs, 2011). Even

though Perry was unable to open the borders of Japan in 1854 with the Convention of Kanagawa, this

began the discourse leading to the opening of trade in 1858, allowing the culture clash which birthed the

wildly popular Art Nouveau movement (National Archive and Records Administration, 2014). Though the

Japanese influence is not limited to the Art Nouveau movement, the comparative similarities of the two

styles are so apparent, they deserve focus (Meggs, 2011). Their relationship with history allows a deeper

understanding of Western art as a whole, both at the turn of the century and today.