Anglo-Japanese style

The Anglo-Japanese style developed in the period from approximately 1851 to 1900, when a new appreciation for Japanese design and culture affected the art, especially the decorative art, and architecture of England. The first use of the term "Anglo-Japanese" occurs in 1851. The wider interest in Eastern or Oriental design and culture is regarded as a characteristic of the Aesthetic Movement during the same period.

Contrary to popular opinion, an early interest in Japanese art and decoration existed in England at an early, if not earlier, date than in France. The Museum of Ornamental Art (later the Victorian and Albert Museum) attached to the Government School of Design, bought Japanese lacquer and porcelain in 1852, and again in 1854 with the purchase of 37 items from the exhibition at the Old Water-Colour Society, London. Japanese art was exhibited at London in 1851, Dublin in 1853; Edinburgh 1856 and 1857; Manchester in 1857, and Bristol in 1861. The 1862 International Exhibition in London had a Japanese display which has been considered 'one of the most influential events in the history of Japanese art in the West.'

Some opinion has considered fine art to have more importance than decorative art and therefore attention has previously centred on the influence in the 1860s of the painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler who introduced the Pre-Raphaelite painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Japanese art, thus establishing a veritable cult of Japan within this Bohemian circle. It is quite clear however that serious scholarly interest was firmly established in the decorative arts in England at an earlier date. By the 1880s, the style had become a major influence on the art and decoration of the time, leaving its mark on Whistler's paintings and designs (principally Peacock Room).

The style developed in advance of the British Arts and Crafts Movement (the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society was formed as late as 1887), but both are best regarded as branches from the mainstream Aesthetic Movement.

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