The debate over Japaneseness was itself in part a Western import, since the mid-19th-century taste, of Impressionists and Art Nouveau enthusiasts, for japonaiserie — for example, the woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige, folding screens, ivory medicine boxes — transformed the self-perception of the Japanese.

Around 130 works have been amassed for this exhibition, which includes sections focusing on Whistler’s portraits, landscapes and Japonaiserie.

The last she showed publicly, for spring 2014, was influenced by japonaiserie, and many pieces were painstakingly embroidered with trailing wisteria.

The first uses of Japonaiserie look trite, campy: chorus members fold paper into origami shapes, and the Madwoman has a white parasol.

"It took some time to digest everything, to make it ours, not what we call Japonaiserie."