Passion for French art bridges the east-west divide

On February 6, 2022, Museum Folkwang in the German city of Essen will turn 100. Founded at the start of the 20th century by Karl Ernst Osthaus, its website states that it was built with three ideas in mind: "the dialogue of the arts and cultures, the museum as a place of exchange and cultural education, and the unity of art and life.”

For its centenary celebrations, theMuseum Folkwang's organizers have drawn upon the institution's international and humanistic tradition, and curated an exhibition called "Renoir, Monet, Gauguin — Images of a Floating World." The exhibition aims to illustrate how modern French art was not only appreciated in Europe at the start of the 20th century but also in Japan.

For this purpose, the curators have brought together two collections: one belonging to Osthaus and the other to a Japanese businessman, Kojiro Matsukata. Speaking to DW, Rebecca Herlemann of Museum Folkwang said, "The collections that these two persons [Osthaus and Matsukata] built, are very similar, regarding their artistic positions and it is very interesting to compare and contrast these two collections.”

A modern museum in Japan

During the turn of the 19th century, Europe — and especially Germany — was undergoing massive industrialization. But it was also the time when the arts flourished, and inspired people like Osthaus to leave his traditional family profession – his father was a banker – and revive the industrial Ruhr area with art and culture.

In Matsukata's case, the discovery of art was more accidental. Born into a wealthy Japanese family, his father – Matsukata Masayoshi – was prime minister during the Meiji period, when Japan underwent major social, political and economic change and its rulers sought to create a nation-state that could stand up to western colonial powers.

In an essay about the art collector titled "A basic guide to the greatest Matsukata collection in the world,” Japanese author Maha Harada writes that Matsukata was a poor student, but his father's status and his wealthy friends ensured him a doctorate from Yale University in the USA. Harada is an art historian and writer of historical fiction, specializing in classical painters from Europe.

According to Harada, Matsukata was chosen to head the Kawasaki Shipbuilding Company when he was around 30, and a shortage of ships globally after WWI ensured his business boomed. "It is said that what triggered his interest in artworks was that he found a painting of a dockyard by Frank Brangwyn at a gallery in London that he happened to enter in order to pass the time. Matsukata, the president of a dockyard, felt a sense of connection with a painting of something familiar,” Harada writes.

Later, Matsukata felt that poor Japanese artists needed an art museum in Japan, where they could directly commune with the paintings and so he stumbled upon the idea of building a museum in his native Japan.

Japonism in European art

Brangwyn became his partner in finding and buying artworks from eminent European artists. Visiting Europe in 1921, Matsukata also met the painter Claude Monet and bought several of his paintings that hung in the painter's house. Monet is also believed to have confessed he had a passion for Japanese ukiyo-e paintings, including woodblock prints and images of sumo wrestlers and beautiful women, Maha Harada writes in her essay.

Monet was not alone in his love for all things Japanese: other painters during that period, including Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were inspired by Japanese stylistic devices and woodcuts during the period of "Japonisme” between 1860 and 1910 when Japan was a craze among Parisians. Monet's "Water Lilies” series is also believed to be inspired by Japanese artistic styles.

Many of the artworks owned by Matsukata were stored in Paris or London and after WWII, the over 400 works in France were confiscated as enemy property. The financial crisis also ruined the businessman, whose nearly 1,000 pieces of art were auctioned off in Japan.

The paintings he previously owned, including Monet's "Water Lilies” and Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker” and "The Gates of Hell” were finally acquired by Japan in the late 1950s on the condition that a museum dedicated to European art be established. Consequently, the National Museum of Western Art was founded in Tokyo in 1959.

Combinations and contrasts

The centenary exhibition of Museum Folkwang enables Matsukata's and Osthaus' painting collections to "enter into dialogue” with one another. The museum's Rebecca Herlemann explains the concept, saying that nearly 40 works from Matsukata's artworks have been brought to Essen for the centenary exhibition, offering visitors the unique opportunity to compare his collection with that of Osthaus.

"What we see are many similarities in case of artistic positions and the special works that they bought. For example, in the case of Paul Gauguin, you can see that Osthaus bought more of the later works, whereas Matsukata bought many of the early works of this artist,” she explains, adding that this helps the viewer see how the painter's style as well as his subjects have changed over the years.

"For Paul Gauguin, for example, he was in France and living in the Bretagne. He painted what he saw there, like seascapes and people from the coast. Then he went to the South Sea and was very interested in the culture and the people he met there, so his subjects changed, as well as his paintings and colors,” Herlemann elaborates.

Besides prominent European masters, including Renoir, Gauguin, Rodin among others, the exhibition also features works by eastern artists from Osthaus' collection and is rounded off with works by contemporary Japanese artists, including Chiharu Shiota and Tabaimo.

The event is being organized under the patronage of German President Frank Walter Steinmeier and begins on February 6 in Essen. The curators have also included films and talks, which can be watched online.

"RENOIR, MONET, GAUGUIN — Images of a Floating World" will be held at Museum Folkwang, Essen until May 15, 2022. 

Edited by: Brenda Haas