Detail: The late 19th and early 20th century witnessed an explosion of interest in all things Japanese that prompted a correspondingly radical shift in modern art dubbed “Japonisme” by the Parisian critic Philippe Burty in 1872.  Some of the greatest American and European artists were inspired by Japanese art and culture during this period to create works of singular beauty.

The Frist Center will be the first museum to present Looking East: Western Art and the Allure of Japan. The exhibition, which will later be seen in Japan, Canada, and San Francisco, explores the fruitful encounter between East and West by showing Japanese ukiyo-e prints and decorative arts alongside the paintings and prints of Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch and the furniture of Frank Lloyd Wright. The exhibition is drawn entirely from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which has one of the finest collections of both Japanese art and American and European art of this period in the world.