Understanding Art Deco Lacquer Techniques by Jean Dunand through Japanese Regional Urushi Techniques

일본 지역 옻칠을 통해서 본 장 뒤낭의 아르데코 옻칠 기법

This paper explores Art Deco lacquer techniques by French designer Jean Dunand (1877-1942) and how his artistic intuition turned Japanese regional lacquer techniques into the new phase of French modernism. Since Dunand had learned traditional lacquer techniques from a Japanese lacquer craftsman in Paris, Seizo Sugawara, Dunand’s modernized lacquer works should be strongly related to traditional Japanese techniques. Therefore, in this research, under this premise, traditional Japanese lacquer techniques developed in each region of Japan until 1900, before Sugawara moved to France, were compared to the techniques used by Dunand. As a result of the analysis, this paper explains that the lacquer techniques used by Dunand were closely related to the techniques developed in the Tohoku regions, where the lacquer master Seizo Sugawara was originally from. Therefore, Dunand’s lacquer techniques are westernized from a visual perspective but substantially rooted in Japanese regional urushi techniques.