Olga de Meyer, Japan

Adolf de Meyer

1900 · Platinum print · Photographs

Framed by the gridded panels of a sliding screen door, Olga de Meyer pauses from her reading to look languidly at the camera. De Meyer made this affectionate photograph of his new wife while on their honeymoon to Japan. The composition suggests his interest in Japanese aesthetics, as well as the influence of the painter James McNeill Whistler, a key figure of the Aesthetic movement. In its rebellion against Victorian morals, the movement sought inspiration from outside the European tradition. De Meyer’s travels in Japan—as well as China, Ceylon, India, North Africa, Turkey, and Spain—nourished Orientalist fictions, and gave rise to the subjects and compositions of many of his photographs.

Artist

Adolf de Meyer

Date

1900

Medium

Platinum print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, Mrs. Jackson Burke Gift, 1981