In the second half of the 19th century, Europe was swept by a "mania （狂热）for Japanese aesthetics （美学）"，said Nina Siegal in The New York Times.
Closed to outsiders for centuries, Japan had opened itself up to trade and diplomacy, allowing the rest of the world to discover its unique visual culture. Artists were particularly taken with Japonisme, as it was known, and none more so than Vincent van Gogh （1853—90）. Although he never actually visited Japan, the Dutch artist developed a "fascination" with Japanese woodcut prints, collecting hundreds of examples. Increasingly attracted by Japanese culture, van Gogh studied and copied these prints, and their influence inevitably bled into his work. A new exhibition at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum brings together nearly all of the artist's "major" Japanese-influenced works, as well as about 50 of the prints that played a role in the evolution of his "distinctive style".This show has been five years in the making, said Michael Glover in The Independent, "and it delves into （探索）this subject as never before."
Van Gogh undoubtedly had a "reverence" for Japanese printmakers like Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. Two "direct copies" he made of Hiroshige nature scenes hang alongside the originals, demonstrating the intense passion with which he studied the work. He drew on Eastern spiritual philosophy too, depicting himself as "a Japanese priest with shaven head" in a "tragic" late self-portrait. Yet I can't help feeling that the exhibition overstates the importance of Japanese art in van Gogh's work. It suggests that everything from his still life drawings to masterpieces like his "lovely" 1888 painting The Harvest were directly inspired by the likes of Hokusai, yet both clearly owe more of a debt to Dutch painting traditions. Ultimately, the claim that van Gogh's art was transformed by Japanese culture "simply does not hold up".
I disagree, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. Seeing van Gogh's work paired with the Japanese prints, it's obvious they were crucial to the development of his style. He learnt compositional tricks from Japanese woodcuts, embracing their use of colour and perspective. More crucial still, they led him to create art with a "devotional relationship to nature" entirely new to European painting. This is an important and appealing show that will lead you to an "inescapable" conclusion: "Japanese art turned van Gogh into van Gogh".
15. What did Januszczak think of the effect of Japanese paintings on van Gogh's works?
A、It was unclear.
B、It was profound.
C、It was negative.
D、It was indirect.
【正确答案】：B
【题目解析】：题目问的是Januszczak如何看待日本绘画对梵高作品的影响，从而可定位至文中最后一段。选项A 不清楚的；选项B 深远的；选项C 消极的；选项D 间接的。根据文中最后一段提到将梵高的作品与日本版画搭配在一起，很明显，它们对梵高风格的发展起到了至关重要的作用。他学习了日本木刻的构图技巧，并欣然接受了它们对色彩和透视的运用。更重要的是，他们引导他以一种对欧洲绘画来说全新的“与自然的虔诚关系”来创造艺术。这是一场重要而吸引人的展览，它会让你得出一个“不可避免”的结论:“日本艺术把梵高变成了梵高”，说明日本绘画对梵高的影响深远，故选B。
