Matthi Forrer, born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1948. Ph.D. from Leiden University. Siebold Professor of Material Culture of Pre-modern Japan at Leiden University.
Fellow (1 September 2009 – 31 January 2010)
WESTERN SOURCES FOR NEW MARKETS AND CONSTANT RENEWAL IN JAPAN
In my research I focused on the introduction of the Western linear perspective in Japan, where it suddenly appears in Japanese popular woodblock prints from around 1740. Initially, I mainly investigated recent theories (Kishi 1994; Oka 1999) suggesting that this perspective may have been introduced through China – quod non. I then studied the early development of Western perspective as it was handled by a number of Japanese artists in the course of the 18th century, more specifically in the designs for woodblock prints by Okumura Masanobu, Maruyama Ōkyo, Utagawa Toyoharu and Katsushika Hokusai, as well as in the etchings of Aōdō Denzen, as another technique introduced into Japan through the VOC, the Dutch East India Company.