CHINOISERIE with Matthew Martin

Chinoiserie refers to a style in Western art which draws its inspiration from the arts of China, Japan and India.

Dr Matthew Martin, Assistant Curator, Decorative Arts and Antiquities, National Gallery of Victoria, will explore the European fascination with exotic materials like lacquer, silk and porcelain.

This fascination combined with a paucity of accurate information on the great civilisations of Asia, gave rise to European artworks which reflect, not the real world of Asia, but European fantasies of the civilizations of China, Japan and India. With its origins in the 17th century, Chinoiserie in Europe attained its apogee in the mid-18th century where it informed some of the most delightful and beautiful artistic productions of the period.