Anglo-Japanese style

Anglo-Japanese Style

Dresser Teapot (1879) inspired by watching Japanese Tea Ceremony in 1877
Years active	1850s–1910s
Location	United Kingdom
Major figures	Christopher Dresser, Edward William Godwin, Thomas Jeckyll, Arthur Lasenby Liberty, Arthur Silver
Influences	Arts & Crafts Yokohama Shashin Ukiyo-e Japanese art
Influenced	Pre-raphaelites, Mintons Pottery, Aestheticism, British Queen Anne Revival architecture, Modern Style & Studio pottery in England, Glasgow Boys in Scotland, Arts and Crafts movement & Eastlake Furniture in the United States; Liberty style in Italy

The Anglo-Japanese style developed in the United Kingdom through the Victorian era and early Edwardian era from approximately 1851 to the 1910s, when a new appreciation for Japanese design and culture influenced how designers and craftspeople made British art, especially the decorative arts and architecture of England, covering a vast array of art objects including ceramics, furniture and interior design.^[1] Important centres for design included London and Glasgow.

The first use of the term "Anglo-Japanese" occurs in 1851,^[2] and developed due to the keen interest in Japan, which due to Japanese state policy until the 1860s, had been closed to the Western markets. The style was popularised by Edward William Godwin in the 1870s in England, with many artisans working in the style drawing upon Japan as a source of inspiration and designed pieces based on Japanese Art, whilst some favoured Japan simply for its commercial viability, particularly true after the 1880s when the British interest in Eastern design and culture is regarded as a characteristic of the Aesthetic Movement. By the 1890s–1910s further education occurred, and with the advent of bilateral trade and diplomatic relations, two-way channels between the UK and Japan occurred and the style morphed into one of cultural exchange and early modernism, diverging into the Modern Style,^[3] Liberty style and anticipated the minimalism of 20th-century modern design principles.

Notable British designers working in the Anglo-Japanese style include Christopher Dresser, Edward William Godwin, James Lamb, Philip Webb and the decorative arts wall painting of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Further influence can be found in works from the Arts and Crafts movement; and in British designs in Scotland, seen in the works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.