AVANT-GARDE (Japan and East Asia)
The avant garde in Japan has been evolving for over a century. In many ways, given the historical timing, the recognition and adaptation of Western art techniques after the opening of Japan merged quite seamlessly with the introduction of avant garde impulses internationally. Cezanne followed soon after the introduction of oil painting, itself, in the Japanese cultural imagination. It was all new. But Japanese sophistication grew quickly. And, given the freedom promised by the new schools, the Japanese artist was thereby given the opportunity to experiment, to recreate and adapt, to express a personal vision using the new tools at hand.
Futurism, Surrealism, Dada, Expressionism - all were given free play, internalized and recreated in such schools or movements as MAVO, Mirai-ha, etc. and, after the war, Gutai.
The question of influence is always implied.... Were the Japanese simply "copying" (whatever that might mean)? A look through the productions of that time reveals influence, of course, but research makes it quite clear that in many ways, the influence was mutual.