Eastern sources in European architecture and Art at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries and modern tendencies

Abstract

Aim. The article investigated the influence of Eastern cultures (Chinese, Japanese) on the style of European Аrt nouveau and the Historicism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Methodology. Used the scientific methods of historic analyze and comparative analyze. Results. Argued, that the fascination of Western European civilization with Eastern cultures began at the end of the seventeenth century — first it was a total fascination with Chinese culture, and from the middle of the nineteenth century — Japanese and Moorish, Arabic, Persian. It is argued that the popularization of Eastern cultures among the Western European community was facilitated by the publication of historical novels on ancient Egypt, the Middle Ages, and the Arab East. Through artistic works, admiration for exotic cultures spread to architecture, design, and décor elements. Particular attention was paid to the stylistic specificity of European architecture and Art at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.Scientific novelty. Such as argued, it is proved that the fascination with Chinese and Chinese traditions felt concentrated until the second half of the nineteenth century, when due to archeological excavations of Troy, excavations in Egypt, the opening of the world of Japan and the establishment of trade, it somewhat weakened, giving way to the Japanese and Asian influences, and to the influences of old Romanesque architecture. At the same time, there is a certain combination of Chinese and Japanese influences in Historicism and Art nouveau, which is especially noticeable in decoration. It is cited as evidence of the fascination of Chinese traditions at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with the erection of a China-style Perlov Tea Shop in Moscow in 1890, combining the structure of a typical apartment building and elements of traditional Chinese architecture.Practical significance. As results argued, that despite the change of dynasties, traditional architecture remained quite conservative, that is, we can talk about China’s inherent continuity of architectural and artistic traditions. The definitive symbols by which ancient Chinese architecture is known in the world are the following: the typical silhouettes of buildings with traditional concave roofs covered with tiling; the application of polychrome decorated supports, screens; over-saturation with details; the widespread use of complex-shaped carving, the symbolic significance of the mural plots, traditions of which are from prehistoric times, and even polychromy, where each colour had a particular meaning (the main colours were red, gold, blue, green and white). That’s open the road for using this principles in modern Chinese design.