The opening of Japan to trade in
1859 unlocked the doors of a stylistically rich and organic art tradition to an
eager Western audience and paved the way to the Art Nouveau and Modernist
movements. Painters, sculptors, ceramicists, designers, printmakers, and
photographers quickly assimilated many aspects of Japan's art into their own
work. Japanism champions subtlety of line, absence of symmetry, and
simplification of realistic form, and it also holds as a fundamental law of
beauty that the artwork be structurally self-contained.

Sheila Metzner's photograph of the
French actress Jeanne Moreau is itself a reflection of this artistic tradition,
but other artist's interpretations of Japanism also are included as
counterpoints. An amorphously shaped Noguchi side table topped by a geometrically
decorated Favrile vase echoes the figuration of the actress. Moreau, completely
enveloped in a floor-length striped kimono, seems to sprout from the floor beneath
her gown. The stripes and folds swirl upward in sensuous curves which are
repeated in the lines of the vase and table.