Japanese dolls in Paintings & Prints

Western artists were of course deeply influenced by Japan in the second half of the 19th century. Japanese painters and woodblock artists had evolved their own system for representing reality, quite different from the European techniques of perspective and lighting. Both groups became aware of the advantages of understanding each others' methods. 

Artists such as John LaFarge, Helen Hyde, Paul Jacoulet, and Willy Seiler lived in Japan for a variety of intertwined reasons: to record the culture, to learn the Japanese techniques for creating woodblocks, to live in a country where art was part of life. 

Dolls were more important as a subject to Japanese artists of the 19th and 20th century than to Western artists, but Japanese dolls did find their way into some paintings by Europeans.

C(harles) D(ater) Weldon,  (American, 1855-1935)

The Japanese dolls inspecting the blonde baby doll (and by extension the little girl who is dreaming the whole thing) appear to be adult males and rather frightening; however, their intentions seem to involve curiosity and a desire for communication. Like the strange creatures encountered by Alice in Wonderland, their manners are strange but they are recognizably manners. 

Weldon's painting must date from 1883 or earlier, since this engraving by S. J. Ferris was published in that year. Weldon later specialized in illustrating stories about Japan (e.g. Alice Hegan's Captain June and Mae Bramhall's Wee Ones of Japan), China, and India, for American periodicals. The dolls here, however, may have been based on exhibits at an American fair such as the 1876 Centennial.  This image is from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalogue.

C. D. Weldon (Charles Dater) (American, 1855-1935)

This image seems to be a variation or extension of the image directly above.

Here, the little dreaming girl is gone and the Japanese doll has a baby face like the blonde dolly's; his intentions are romantic but not frightening or inappropriate. 

Click to see the entire image.

Charles Frederic Ulrich (?) 1858-1908

This image seems to be based on Weldon's "Dream-land," but here the scene is more dramatic. The little girl's innocence is explicitly sexual, and the dolls are touching her. Although they are smiling, they seem aggessive, and the blond dolly is not able to interact with the Japanese dolls, as she does in Weldon's fantasy. If one puts this in a Russian context in 1900-06, it might be an allegory of the Japanese threat to Russian growth.

This is a pre-1917 Russian postcard, with the word Ulrich and the title in Russian. C. F. Ulrich was an American painter who worked in Germany from the 1880s on, but the original may be by another artist. Thanks to Frank Goodwin for translating the Russian!

painting, 1894

Alfred Stevens (Belgian)

Two women in a room with Japanese prints; the seated woman shows a pair of ichimatsu to the standing woman. The artist was interested in Japanese design and accessories.

For more of his paintings including Japanese dolls, see the Alfred Stevens page.

by Edith Scannell (British, fl. 1870-1903)

ca. 1890

Scannell was evidently a painter of children and an illustrator of children's books. 2010: see the new Edith Scannell page.

189-?

engraving after Mlle. F. Charderon (French)

The little girl's costume suggests an earlier period of the 19th century but the dolls belong to the 1890-1910 period.
This charming image was also reproduced on postcards.

Amateur watercolor, inscribed on back as a gift, 1917 (click for whole image). 

It seems possible that the child is a portrait of the little girl to whom it was given, and that the doll is also a "portrait" of a favorite toy. The verse reads: 

"Mrs. Hen, pray tell me, do,
Why your chicks are not like you."
"Cluck, cluck! your chick, lady small,
Does not resemble you at all."
 

painting, 190-, US

Helen Hyde (American, 1868-1919)

Hyde went to Japan to further her art studies in 1899, and did not return until 1915. She learned how to produce woodblock prints (carving her own blocks, which was unusual) and supported herself by American sales of her scenes of Japanese daily life. A biography can be found online at Women Artists of the American West.
 

Colored drawing, 1902

Leon Bakst (Russian, 1866-1924)

Bakst began his career as an illustrator in St. Petersburg but his great contribution to the arts was as a designer for the theater and ballet. He was an important collaborator in the productions of the Ballets Russes, with Diaghilev and Nijinsky. 

A design for the ballet "Fairy Doll" (Puppenfee), about a toyshop which comes to life at night. In the 1902 St. Petersburg production for which Bakst designed the costumes, the dolls who come to life represent various nations.

Painting or print, France

A Japanese doll swimming, evidently lost by a little girl shown in the bottom margin.

I took this image from ebay, where the print was being sold. I wish I had bought it! If any owner would like to send me a better scan or more information, that would be great.

Woodblock surimono, 1950s

Paul Jacoulet (French, 1896-60)

Paul Jacoulet was born in Paris but moved to Japan with his parents when he was ten, and lived there most of the rest of his life. Starting in 1934, he produced woodblock prints in lavish limited editions, drawing on subject matter from  Japan, Korea, and the Pacific islands. He is the one Westerner who is considered an authentic practitioner of the Japanese art of the woodblock. See the Castle Fine Arts biography.

Image of an old Japanese woman holding tachibina. This design was produced both as a full-size woodcut and as a Christmas card.

Scan compliments of Washington Antiques Center.

Willy Seiler (German, b. 1903)

Willy Seiler was a German artist who lived and worked in Karuizawa, Japan, after World War II, producing many etchings of Japanese children and peasants. He also designed and/or made rag dolls (of the kind produced in China by Ada Lum) representing various kinds of Japanese costume and labor, which were marketed as "Willy Seiler dolls." Much of his market was American military personnel, and he painted MacArthur's portrait.
This child is probably Seiler's daughter Anita. I have also seen a print of this which is vividly colored (with red kimono on both girl and doll).

For more of Seiler's etchings, search online: several of them are at ROG Gallery.

about 1971
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Robert Davey (American, fl. 1945-94)

Davey was a California artist whose "naive" still lifes have a great charm. This image of a doll and a butterfly was not based, so far as his daughter knows, on a real doll, though in fact she looks quite a bit like an early-20th-century ichimatsu type.

For more on Davey, see the Purdy Gallery.