Landscape with Trees

Photography was popularized in Japan beginning in the 19th century. This work by the Japanese photographer Eiichi Sakurai imitates Japanese landscape painting by using the soft-focus black and white photography style known as pictorialism. Eiichi Sakurai was a renowned photographer who helped to develop Japanese camera technology by designing the Olympus Optical Co. Ltd.’s first camera. Photography’s impact was noticeable across media. After the Perry expedition to Japan, various Western technologies and cultures were adopted by Japanese artists and craftspeople. Western travelers used photography to record their expanding access to the world. East Asian artists used the same technology to increase the likeness of painted portraits, adding realistic techniques from the study of photographs such as shading, horizon lines and perspective.