Olga de Meyer, Japan
Adolf de Meyer American, born France
Not on view
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.
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