Make serious situation FUN!!

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by Akari Matsumoto

Have you ever seen these pictures (1, 2)? You might have seen them when you were in junior high school or high school. These are helpful materials to understand history. Do you know who drew them? The answer is ... Georges Ferdinand Bigot. He is famous as an caricaturist (3).

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Who is Bigot?

He is from France. He come to Japan as お雇い外国人（Oyatoi-gaikokujin - a foreign expert - Ed).

Why was he interested in Japan?

He studied drawing when he was in France. Through drawing he met people who loved Japanese art. And he saw Ukiyoe (Japanese woodblock prints - Ed) at Paris Exposition.

Then he became interested in Japan.

Did he draw political pictures at first?...No!

He began drawing Japanese daily life at first. It was rare thing because at that time Japanese people didn't care about daily life, because it was too usual so they didn't draw it. What he did next was drawing Government and international relations. At that time there were French people who were interested so he drew pictures for them.

As you know pictures help our imagination. In particular, it's hard to understand politics, so his pictures were good for French people. His pictures include humor like funny comics. It makes people have interest.

His thoughts about Japanese politics

He had opinion about Treaty revision (条約改正). Treaty revision is amending situation that Japan admit Extraterritoriality (治外法権) and doesn't have Tariff autonomy (関税自主権) and so on.

Extraterritoriality meant that Japan couldn't judge if foreigners committed crimes, even though it happened in Japan. Japan has to leave it to the country of the person who committed the crime.

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Tariff autonomy means ability to set tax on trade. At that time, Japan didn't have it, so Japan had to follow tax which other countries set. If I were alive at that time, I might think Japan had to do Treaty revision soon, because I’m Japanese and these treaties are unfair for Japan. Japan didn't have right. On the other hand, Bigot didn't think so. Treaty revision might be not good for foreigners, including Bigot. Finally he left Japan.

His work is not famous in his country France but in Japan, his pictures are so important.

By the way, what do you think stereotype of Japanese people is? You might imagine like this picture (4). Japanese is short, wearing glasses, has an overbite, is working hard and so on. People say these images are made by Bigot.

These two are pictures Bigot drew:

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But Bigot doesn't always drew Japanese like these and make fun of Japanese. He loves Japanese and respect Japanese.

I like Bigot

I like art and history. Sometimes, history is complicated especially world history is hard for me. But thanks to his work, his cartoons, I can understand.



















His cartoon makes serious situation like world relationship fun for example he draws country as person (7). It is easy to understand.

↓ Russia,Japan,UK and USA

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One disappointing thing is he didn't understand Treaty revision. I hope he would cooperate with Japanese to do Treaty revision.


References

"Georges Bigot". (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 19, 2015, from
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BB%E3%83%93%E3%82%B4%E3%83%BC

Naver Matome, (September 19, 2013). Furansu no Fuushigaka, Georges Bigot ga Mita Nihonjin [Meijijidai] [Japanese people as seen by French caricaturist Georges Bigot - Meiji Period]. Retrieved January 19, 2015, from http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2137904355726810601?&page=1

"Sutereotaipu" [Stereotypes]. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 19, 2015, from
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%82%AA%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%97

Georges Ferdinand Bigot

Georges Ferdinand Bigot

By Hatsumi Yoshino

His background

Have you ever heard the name Georges Bigot, or seen his art works? He was famous as an artist and a cartoonist. He was born in 1860 in France. His mother graduated from a famous artist school and he lived around arts so he was interested in arts and paintings. After graduating from art school, he met a French artist known to be a Japanese art enthusiast and he learned about Japanese arts or Japan from him so he became interested in them. In 1882, he came to Japan and he worked at Japanese military as a foreigner employee. After that, he taught French at Nakae Chomin’s school and he contacted Chomin’s apprentices, so he learned of campaign for democratic rights. Because of this experience, he began painting critical cartoons. In 1887, he published “TOBAE” to criticize Japanese government for foreigners living in Japan. In 1893, before coming back France, he moved to Inage, Chiba and in same year he followed Japanese military to record Sino- Japanese war. In 1889, he came back France.

Three elements influenced his life. First is his mother and his friend, second is Nakae Chomin and third is Sino-Japanese war. I suggested that the first influence was his mother and his friend. His mother graduated from a famous art school so he was interested in arts. When he was 8 years old, he drew states of the Paris commune. His art style of painting real life also came from this experience. In addition he met his friend who liked Japanese arts. At first when he met his friend, he was taught Japanese ukie, not critical cartoon. However he could know Japanese art, he wanted to go to Japan.

Next is Nakae Chomin. Bigot taught French in Chomin’s school. Its school was attended by students who achieved the campaign for democratic rights. So Bigot could know Japan’s politics and he began to paint critical cartoons. At that time Japanese government wanted to change a treaty between Japan and other countries. However Bigot disagreed with this opinion, and thought it was too early to change them. So he criticized Japanese government with his cartoons.

Last influence is Sino-Japanese war. Bigot followed Japanese military to record this war. He painted hospitals of the battlefield or soldiers who did trivial works. In Russo –Japan war, he was asked to paint its war.

My influence

Indiscriminate imitation

I saw Bigot's pictures when I was a junior high school student and a high school student in history classes. At first I was surprised that a foreigner painted these pictures. Because I think they could not directly criticize Japan but he painted them like a cheating. However they were true viewpoints which foreigner had. My favorite picture is “Indiscriminate imitation”. This picture shows Japanese couple wearing dress and they think this dress suits them, but two monkeys are reflected in the mirror. According to this picture, Japanese is equal to monkey and they did not really westernize. They just imitated western country. I think Bigot looked at Japan critically. Some other foreigners also expressed criticisms in their books or pictures. Bigot’s picture was easy to understand, because people who did not know English could not understand books in English, but pictures did not have letters so they could understand artist’s feelings easily.

Explaining our discussion

I would like to explain our group discussion. My first discussion question was “If you lived in that time, and you saw Bigot’s picture, what would you have felt?’ Second is “Bigot was not famous in France but he was famous in Japan, so do you think he was happy or unhappy?” Last question is “what are differences between Edoardo Chiossone [an Italian portrait artist described in other posts on this blog - Ed] and Bigot?”

First discussion question was “If you lived in that time, and you saw Bigot’s picture, what would you have felt?’ A group member said if I could understand that the pictures looked down on Japan, I would have gotten angry. Other members said they would have got angry or sad.

Second question was “Bigot was not famous in France but he was famous in Japan, so do you think he was happy or unhappy?” A member said he might have been happy because he was interested in Japan and loved Japan. In addition I explained that he got award for his picture which he painted in Inage, so after hearing this fact, members said he was so happy because he painted his favorite view in Japan, so he was happy.

Last question is “what are differences between Chiossone and Bigot?” My group member introduced Chiossone who was Italian painter and he painted Japanese good points or contributed to Japanese government. They were opposite, so what are differences? A member mentioned Bigot just joked and he did not really criticize Japan. Because he loved Japan and he wanted to introduce real Japan to foreign countries.

Thanks to this presentation, I could know details of Bigot and I want to research him more. Many foreigners who I do not know contributed to Japan. Present Japan is made by not only Japanese but also foreigners.

References

Bigot’s Wikipedia

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BB%E3%83%93%E3%82%B4%E3%83%BC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Ferdinand_Bigot