The Japanese Bauhaus: East-West Diffusion in Modernism

The article explores the under-explored history of Japanese influence on the Bauhaus and the reciprocal diffusion between Eastern and Western art. It traces Japonisme from the 1853 opening of Japan by Commodore Perry, through Impressionism's adoption of ukiyo-e, to the Bauhaus where Johannes Itten incorporated Zen and Japanese ink painting into the Vorkurs. Japanese students like Iwao Yamawaki and Michiko studied at Dessau, later teaching at the Shikenchiku Kōgei Gakuin (Japanese Bauhaus) founded by Renshichirō Kawakita in 1934. The school closed in 1936 due to nationalist suspicion. After WWII, Bauhaus ideals persisted in Japan through architects like Kenzo Tange. The article argues that Modernism was a globalist movement, not solely European.