Additionally, the new style was an outgrowth of two nineteenth-century English developments for which design reform was a leitmotif—the Arts and Crafts motion and the Aesthetic movement. The former emphasized a return to handcraftsmanship and traditional techniques. The latter promoted an identical credo of “art for art’s sake” that offered the muse more helpful hints for non-narrative work, as an example, Whistler‘sNocturnes. It further drew upon elements of Japanese art (“japonisme“), which flooded Western markets, mainly within the type of prints, after buying and selling rights have been established with Japan in the 1860s.
