Christa Giles

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intellectually and emotionally complete.˝ 464 Design
overwhelms subject matter in decadent art but its highly
self-conscious and self-mocking style is primarily
addressed to the intellect.
It follows that it would be the purely decorative
quality of Japanese painting which appealed to Wilde and
Huysmans. The interest in Japanese art began in France
when Bracquemond found a volume of Hosukai. The
Goncourt brothers, Zola and Baudelaire, as well as artists
such as Degas, Manet, and Fantin-Latour, became greatly
interested in Japanese art. Finally, Whistler began the craze
in England, importing it from France. Between 1864 and
1870, his paintings are markedly influenced by Japanese
art. His conception of painting changed in this period and
he desired to obtain a harmonious balance of colour
applied to a decorative surface. Line, arrangement, and
form became his primary concern; subject was incidental.
Thus he called his paintings ˝harmonies,˝ ˝arrangements,˝
˝nocturnes,˝ and ˝symphonies.˝ One of his paintings
showed a black figure in the snow moving towards a
lighted tavern. He called this painting ˝Harmony in Gray
and Gold,˝ saying:
Now that to me is a harmony of colour only. I
care nothing for the past, present, or future of