"Japonisme" is the term used to describe the Victorian fascination with all things Japanese. Wichmann's book successfully demonstrates the influence of this fascination on the fine art of the era. Lavishly illustrated with over a thousand images, Wichmann's essays are informed both historically and artistically on the detailed ins and outs of the sharing of the two cultures of East and West. Topics include the Asian influence in composition, pictoral space, design, choice of material, and subject matter in the visual art and architechture of turn of the century fin de siecle Europe and America. Visual examples are given from a wealth of artists including Van Gogh, Manet, Cassatt, Whistler, Degas, Mucha, Klimt, the architechs Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, and Japanese artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai, just to name a few.

Being a visual artist from the west trained in the Western tradition and yet fascinated with Japanese fine art and in particular the tradition of ukiyo-e, discovering this book for me was like finding the holy grail, a book filled to the brim with stunning visual compromises between the traditions of East and West from which to take my own influences. Fantastic.