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Tim McCormack – East Meets West: The Floating World and Beyond (Online)
Step into the visual dialogue between Japan’s Edo-era art and the Western painters it inspired!
Date recorded: Thursday, November 20, 2025
In this talk, artist and educator Tim McCormack traces how the elegant lines, asymmetrical compositions, and flattened color fields of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and calligraphic ink drawings captivated and transformed the work of European and American painters—from Manet, Degas, Mary Pratt, and Van Gogh to Alex Katz and other modern stylists.
With a fascination with cross-cultural connections, Tim brings both art-historical insight and painterly perspective to the enduring appeal of Japanese printmaking traditions. You’ll see how the poetic restraint and brushwork of artists like Hokusai, Kuniyoshi, and Hiroshige opened new worlds for Western artists seeking emotional intensity, graphic punch, and fresh ways of seeing. And how Japanese artists such as Hokusai were inspired and influence by western artists, and western perspectives. It’s a cross cultural art dialogue that continues to this day including from manga and museum painting.
Join us for a lively visual journey across centuries and continents—complete with brush demonstrations, and stories of artistic exchange. Whether you’re a lover of Japanese aesthetics, a fan of Post-Impressionism, or a curious painter yourself, this is a chance to see both traditions in new light.
Recordings will be posted within 24 hours after an event.
If you enjoy this presentation or make work inspired by it, please leave a comment below the recording.
Tim McCormack – East Meets West: The Floating World and Beyond (Online)
In this talk, artist and educator Tim McCormack traces how the elegant lines, asymmetrical compositions, and flattened color fields of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and calligraphic ink drawings captivated and transformed the work of European and American painters—from Manet, Degas, Mary Pratt, and Van Gogh to Alex Katz and other modern stylists.
With a fascination with cross-cultural connections, Tim brings both art-historical insight and painterly perspective to the enduring appeal of Japanese printmaking traditions. You’ll see how the poetic restraint and brushwork of artists like Hokusai, Kuniyoshi, and Hiroshige opened new worlds for Western artists seeking emotional intensity, graphic punch, and fresh ways of seeing. And how Japanese artists such as Hokusai were inspired and influence by western artists, and western perspectives. It’s a cross cultural art dialogue that continues to this day including from manga and museum painting.
Join us for a lively visual journey across centuries and continents—complete with brush demonstrations, and stories of artistic exchange. Whether you’re a lover of Japanese aesthetics, a fan of Post-Impressionism, or a curious painter yourself, this is a chance to see both traditions in new light.
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In this talk, artist and educator Tim McCormack traces how the elegant lines, asymmetrical compositions, and flattened color fields of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and calligraphic ink drawings captivated and transformed the work of European and American painters—from Manet, Degas, Mary Pratt, and Van Gogh to Alex Katz and other modern stylists.
With a fascination with cross-cultural connections, Tim brings both art-historical insight and painterly perspective to the enduring appeal of Japanese printmaking traditions. You’ll see how the poetic restraint and brushwork of artists like Hokusai, Kuniyoshi, and Hiroshige opened new worlds for Western artists seeking emotional intensity, graphic punch, and fresh ways of seeing. And how Japanese artists such as Hokusai were inspired and influence by western artists, and western perspectives. It’s a cross cultural art dialogue that continues to this day including from manga and museum painting.
Join us for a lively visual journey across centuries and continents—complete with brush demonstrations, and stories of artistic exchange. Whether you’re a lover of Japanese aesthetics, a fan of Post-Impressionism, or a curious painter yourself, this is a chance to see both traditions in new light.
Tim McCormack is an accomplished artist with thirty years of teaching experience to college students and adult learners. He was the Lead Instructor in the Figure Drawing Stream in the highly respected Bachelor of Animation Program at Sheridan College for ten years. He has taught portrait and landscape painting, as well as drawing for absolute beginners and background painting for animation. Tim creates landscape, portraiture and figurative art and is inspired by many drawing materials that he finds in and outside art supply stores. A graduate of OCAD, he has had several solo shows of watercolours, oils and pastels. His work is found in private collections.
Hello Tim, I just watched the recording of your presentation. I’ve been fascinated by Chinese and Japanese art for decades, and how artists in the east and west have cross-pollinated! Though I’ve read about this topic over the years, your insights and knowledge added so much to my understanding. I discovered a few years ago that Georgia O’Keeffe was influenced by Japanese aesthetics and visited Japan! Also, I wondered if you are familiar with this book: “Le Japon Artistique: Japanese Floral Pattern Design in the Art Nouveau Era” by Rachel Saunders. Can you please tell me the title and author of the novel you mentioned that is set in the Edo period? Thanks so much for a wonderful presentation!
Hi again, just to let you know that I registered for this workshop–looking forward to more inspiring insights–I couldn’t resist! But I’ll have to catch you on recordings due to prior commitments.
Thank you, Tim, for a very informative introduction to the influence of Japanese art on Western art. The vintage Manga book was so impressive– wish I could read the marginalia. I was surprised to see that the author was J. Michener! Your examples of artists from both worlds was highly instructive.
Tim, this was FANTASTIC. Most of the Japanese images you highlighted were new to me. I knew that Western artists were influenced by Japanese wood block prints but your presentation made that much easier to see and understand. Thank you Tim and Martha for making this presentation free. You’ve inspired me to try some brush pen or reed pen work on the current series I’m currently playing around with.
4 Responses
Hello Tim, I just watched the recording of your presentation. I’ve been fascinated by Chinese and Japanese art for decades, and how artists in the east and west have cross-pollinated! Though I’ve read about this topic over the years, your insights and knowledge added so much to my understanding. I discovered a few years ago that Georgia O’Keeffe was influenced by Japanese aesthetics and visited Japan! Also, I wondered if you are familiar with this book: “Le Japon Artistique: Japanese Floral Pattern Design in the Art Nouveau Era” by Rachel Saunders. Can you please tell me the title and author of the novel you mentioned that is set in the Edo period? Thanks so much for a wonderful presentation!
Hi again, just to let you know that I registered for this workshop–looking forward to more inspiring insights–I couldn’t resist! But I’ll have to catch you on recordings due to prior commitments.
Thank you, Tim, for a very informative introduction to the influence of Japanese art on Western art. The vintage Manga book was so impressive– wish I could read the marginalia. I was surprised to see that the author was J. Michener! Your examples of artists from both worlds was highly instructive.
Tim, this was FANTASTIC. Most of the Japanese images you highlighted were new to me. I knew that Western artists were influenced by Japanese wood block prints but your presentation made that much easier to see and understand. Thank you Tim and Martha for making this presentation free. You’ve inspired me to try some brush pen or reed pen work on the current series I’m currently playing around with.