Louvre Abu Dhabi Examines Japanese Influence on Nabis and Symbolism

The Louvre Abu Dhabi presents "Japanese Connections: the birth of modern décor," an exhibition running until November 24, 2018, that explores the profound impact of Japanese ukiyo-e art on European artists, particularly the Nabis group. The show highlights how ukiyo-e, originally a political tool to foster national identity in Japan after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, captivated European artists from the 1860s onward. In Europe, the influx of Japanese prints, furniture, and accessories sparked Japonism, influencing painters like Pierre Bonnard, Paul Sérusier, Maurice Denis, and Édouard Vuillard. The exhibition focuses on the Nabis' philosophical engagement with Japanese aesthetics, emphasizing flattened perspectives, bright unnatural colors, and symbolic nature scenes. These elements created a conceptual theater of harmonic gestures and reflective languor, balancing sweetness and melancholy. The show also features Odilon Redon, whose dreamlike, musical compositions drew from Japanese masters like Zaimei, Hiroshige, and Hokusai, paving the way for Symbolism and influencing Paul Klee. While the Nabis' influence remained largely aesthetic, their floral motifs inspired Art Nouveau furniture, tapestries, and architecture of the late Belle Époque. The exhibition is held at the Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island.