Extraordinary Gifts: Selected Paintings from The Procter and Gamble Collection at the Cincinnati Art Museum February 15, 2003 to September 12, 2004 Extraordinary Gifts: Selected Paintings from The Procter and Gamble Collection at the Cincinnati Art Museum Cincinnati Art Museum logo
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Robert Frederick Blum (1857–1903)
The Silk Merchant, Japan, 1890–93
oil on canvas
19 1/2 x 50 1/8 in.

   In the late nineteenth century, Europeans and Americans developed a fascination with Japanese art and civilization. Because Japan had only recently been open to Westerners, many were still largely unfamiliar with its culture. In 1890, Blum became one of the first American artists to visit the country. Accepting a commission from Scribner’s Magazine, he created illustrations for a series of articles on Japanese life. Blum was immediately struck by the newness of his experience. Writing to a friend, he stated, “Can I give you an idea of Japan? No, I’m afraid not. I expected much of it; …but I was hardly prepared to drop into a new world! … You will find nothing to guide you in forming a comparison with what you may have seen or felt before. Life is on a different plane.”

This painting is one of Blum’s most graceful. Inhabited by three women examining delicate silks, the merchant’s shop is bathed in diffused sunlight from the outside street. The exaggerated horizontal shape of the canvas reflects the bandlike shape of a Japanese scroll, heightening the foreign quality of the piece.