Graphic Scenes in the Japan Expedition

Graphic Scenes in the Japan Expedition

DS809 .H47

1856

Born on January 30, 1827 in Dresden, Germany, Heine studied art in Germany and France and worked as a scene designer for the court theater. During an upheaval in his native country, he immigrated to the United States in 1849. He met the archaeologist, Ephraim George Squier, and spurred Heine's artistic career and intellectual curiosity in different cultures. In September 1852 at the age of 25, Heine joined Commodore Perry's expedition to Japan. He diligently recorded in paintings, sketches and writings, important meetings, events, people, and wildlife. Graphic Scenes in the Japan Expedition offers 10 sketches, which were later copied by other artists. Frederic Trautmann, translator of Heine's memoir With Perry to Japan, stated "Heine's images of the Perry expedition and his memoir of it remain his greatest service to America and his supreme achievement." It is not an overstatement that Heine's drawings spurred a craze for Japanese things in the U.S. after their return. Eventually, Heine made four trips to Japan. He returned to Germany after his last trip and published Japan: Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Landes und seiner Bewohner in 1880 in Dresden, where he died five years later.

10 pages

Asia - Japan Collection, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library

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