Paper short abstract:

Considering the enormous popularity of Japanese 'things' among the Victorian middle class, this paper proposes that the moral interpretation of the Japanese aesthetic promoted by the domestic advice literature was crucial in determining the success of Japanese decorative art in the United Kingdom.

Paper long abstract:

Since the middle of the 19th century, British intellectuals tried to reconcile the rigorous morality inherited from the previous era, namely Age of Atonement (Hilton, 1968), with the Victorian consumer culture. If still in the early decades of the 19th century austerity was the main precept, following the increase in the average income in the United Kingdom, the accumulation of decorative objects at home became possible for a wider audience. Among the compromises devised to face this new sensibility, it became customary to look for moral qualities also in interior design (Cohen 2006).

Following the London International Exposition in 1862, Japanese fine and decorative arts were mainly promoted by artists, designers and intellectuals of the Aesthetic Movement, and associated to people such as James Whistler and Oscar Wilde; individuals not always depicted as virtuous figures. Renowned for having a strict social code of conduct, Victorian society would not have been able to fully appreciate the Japanese aesthetic if it had been partly associated with immorality. This latter aspect might sound contradicting taking into consideration the enormous popularity of Japanese 'things' among the British middle class from the late-1870s. To untie this potential conflict, I examined domestic advice manuals published between 1857 and 1903, written by decorators, architects, clergymen, and middle-class women. Regarding Japanese decorative art, most of the authors underlined that Japanese artists had: a superior skill in depicting the 'true essence' of nature, demonstrating a deep understanding of it; a superior morality testified by their work ethic throughout the various stages of the artistic production. Both motivations were based upon an idealised vision of Japan, but despite that, they were more than able to legitimise the display of Japanese decorative art in cosmopolitan interiors, through which Victorian householders expressed their individuality (Neiswander, 2008).

My paper proposes that these motivations were as much important as the support of the Aesthetic Movement in determining the success of Japanese decorative art in a country such as the United Kingdom, characterised by strict social norms and moral conduct.