Gwen John #2 – A Japanese Shop on the Blvd Montparnasse, c.1908

Another quick post from the Gwen John retrospective now on at M2 in Edinburgh. Japonisme influences in 1920s Paris – Gwen John, “The Japanese Doll”, c.1920, Oil on canvas. A still life set against the same backdrop of the artist’s Paris studio room.

In a letter to Rodin written around 1908, John described walking to ‘a certain shop on the Boulevard Montparnasse… where they have Japanese prints in the windows and dolls and all kinds of other Japanese things. When I go for a walk I always go there to look in the windows.’

On loan from Amguedfa Cymru (Welsh Museums).