Cultural Appropriation in the Art World

Claude Monet’s La Japonaise (1876) portrays Camille in an outlandish red kimono, looking at the audience with a coy smile. In 2015, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston held a Looking East exhibition, showcasing a collection of Japanese-inspired European art. The museum’s “Kimono Wednesday” program—a summer special event where the Museum visitors could dress up in a

kimono replica of the kimono depicted in La Japonaise—was advertised under the slogan, “channel your inner Camille.”

Consequently, protestors stood at the place of the exhibition, demanding the museum to cancel the event as it promotes “yellowface,” a term referring to the historical degradation of Asians by white people by using their culture to mock them. However, the event possesses a deeper history of orientalism beyond a white woman wearing a kimono. 

Orientalism in western depictions of the east has been prominent throughout history. Japonisme, in specific, is a trend in late nineteenth-century Europe where European society was fascinated with Japanese culture and objects. Japonism can act as a way for Europeans to assert dominance by incorporating Japanese culture and artistic styles in European paintings. As such, cultural appropriation in the art world should be thoroughly investigated through the lens of historical orientalism.