Paper short abstract:

This paper introduces previously unused archival materials relating to Tomii Masa'akira's work for Émile Guimet and considers whether they can be interpreted to have contributed to the appreciation of Japanese art and culture in 19th-century France.

Paper long abstract:

When Tomii Masa'akira (1858-1935) settled in Lyon in 1877, he started working for Émile Guimet (1936-1918), a Lyonnais industrialist, businessman, and fervent art collector who travelled around Japan in 1876 and 1877. Having amassed a sizeable collection of ceramics and religious artworks and artefacts from Japan and China, Guimet established a museum in Lyon in 1879 dedicated to the religions of the Far East, Egypt, Rome, and Greece.

This paper uses hitherto unused archival sources to shed light on the kind of work that Tomii conducted for Émile Guimet and analyses how these activities can be interpreted to have contributed to the appreciation of Japanese culture and art in 19th-century France. Archival sources reveal that Tomii catalogued Guimet's works, aided in the organization of academic conferences, and wrote, translated, and presented papers on Japanese culture, art, and religion. Particular attention will be paid to Tomii's notes on Japanese art history and his assessment of the painter and woodblock print artist Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831-1889).