Ukiyo-e
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| '''Ukiyo-e''' is a genre of [[Japanese art]] that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced [[woodblock printing|woodblock prints]] and [[Nikuhitsu-ga|paintings]] of such subjects as female beauties; [[kabuki]] actors and [[sumo]] wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; [[Flora of Japan|flora]] and [[Wildlife of Japan#Fauna|fauna]]; and [[Shunga|erotica]]. The term ukiyo-e translates as 'picture[s] of the floating world'. | '''Ukiyo-e''' is a genre of [[Japanese art]] that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced [[woodblock printing|woodblock prints]] and [[Nikuhitsu-ga|paintings]] of such subjects as female beauties; [[kabuki]] actors and [[sumo]] wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; [[Flora of Japan|flora]] and [[Wildlife of Japan#Fauna|fauna]]; and [[Shunga|erotica]]. The term ukiyo-e translates as 'picture[s] of the floating world'. | ||
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| - | In 1603, the city of [[Edo]] ([[Tokyo]]) became the seat of the ruling [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. The {{transliteration|ja|[[chōnin]]}} class (merchants, craftsmen and workers), positioned at the bottom of [[Four occupations|the social order]], benefited the most from the city's rapid economic growth, and began to indulge in and patronize the entertainment of kabuki theatre, [[geisha]], and [[oiran|courtesans]] of the [[Yūkaku|pleasure districts]]; the term {{transliteration|ja|[[ukiyo]]}} ('floating world') came to describe this hedonistic lifestyle. Printed or painted ukiyo-e works were popular with the {{transliteration|ja|chōnin}} class, who had become wealthy enough to afford to decorate their homes with them. | ||
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| - | The earliest ukiyo-e works emerged in the 1670s, with [[Hishikawa Moronobu]]'s paintings and monochromatic prints of beautiful women. [[Colour printing|Colour prints]] were introduced gradually, and at first were only used for special commissions. By the 1740s, artists such as [[Okumura Masanobu]] used multiple woodblocks to print areas of colour. In the 1760s, the success of [[Suzuki Harunobu]]'s [[nishiki-e|"brocade prints"]] led to full-colour production becoming standard, with ten or more blocks used to create each print. Some ukiyo-e artists specialized in making paintings, but most works were prints. Artists rarely carved their own woodblocks for printing; rather, production was divided between the artist, who designed the prints, the carver, who cut the woodblocks, the printer, who inked and pressed the woodblocks onto [[Washi|handmade paper]], and the publisher, who financed, promoted, and distributed the works. As printing was done by hand, printers were able to achieve effects impractical with machines, such as the [[Bokashi (printing)|blending or gradation of colours]] on the printing block. | ||
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| - | Specialists have prized the portraits of beauties and actors by masters such as [[Torii Kiyonaga]], [[Utamaro]], and [[Sharaku]] that came in the late 18th century. The 19th century also saw the continuation of masters of the ukiyo-e tradition, with the creation of the artist [[Hokusai]]'s ''[[The Great Wave off Kanagawa]]'', one of the most well-known works of Japanese art, and the artist [[Hiroshige]]'s ''[[The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō]]''. Following the deaths of these two masters, and against the technological and social modernization that followed the [[Meiji Restoration]] of 1868, ukiyo-e production went into steep decline. However, the 20th century saw a revival in Japanese printmaking: the {{transliteration|ja|[[shin-hanga]]}} ('new prints') genre capitalized on Western interest in prints of traditional Japanese scenes, and the {{transliteration|ja|[[sōsaku-hanga]]}} ('creative prints') movement promoted individualist works designed, carved, and printed by a single artist. Prints since the late 20th century have continued in an individualist vein, often made with techniques imported from the West. | ||
| Ukiyo-e was central to forming the West's perception of [[Japanese art]] in the late 19th century, particularly the landscapes of Hokusai and Hiroshige. From the 1870s onwards, [[Japonisme]] became a prominent trend and had a strong influence on the early [[Impressionism|Impressionists]] such as [[Edgar Degas]], [[Édouard Manet]] and [[Claude Monet]], as well as influencing [[Post-Impressionism|Post-Impressionists]] such as [[Vincent van Gogh]], and [[Art Nouveau]] artists such as [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]]. | Ukiyo-e was central to forming the West's perception of [[Japanese art]] in the late 19th century, particularly the landscapes of Hokusai and Hiroshige. From the 1870s onwards, [[Japonisme]] became a prominent trend and had a strong influence on the early [[Impressionism|Impressionists]] such as [[Edgar Degas]], [[Édouard Manet]] and [[Claude Monet]], as well as influencing [[Post-Impressionism|Post-Impressionists]] such as [[Vincent van Gogh]], and [[Art Nouveau]] artists such as [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]]. | ||
Revision as of 14:51, 5 March 2024
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"The first comprehensive survey of Japanese Wood Engraving, Anderson's monograph in the Portfolio, appeared in 1895. The first attempt to write a history of this art was Strange's totally inadequate Japanese Illustration of 1897. Unfortunately, Strange had published before he was able to take advantage of the new light thrown upon his subject by Fenollosa, in his illuminating Catalogue of 1896, The Masters of Ukiyoye. The only remaining sources of information for the student were a number of scattered articles, monographs, exhibition catalogues, and sale catalogues, and it seemed to me that I might do a useful work by gathering together all this disjointed learning into a coherent whole. Japanese art has become an element in our European culture; it supplies certain needs of our age, and makes distinctly for its progress. But in order to appreciate Japanese Wood-Engraving to the full, we must know the interrelation between the various artists, and the successive stages of development in their art; we also require a criterion by which to test individual essays, that we may not rest content with weak and imitative work when the best is within reach. A survey of Japanese Wood-Engraving which would serve these ends was the task I accordingly set before me."--A History of Japanese Colour-Prints (1897) by Woldemar von Seidlitz |
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Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica. The term ukiyo-e translates as 'picture[s] of the floating world'.
Ukiyo-e was central to forming the West's perception of Japanese art in the late 19th century, particularly the landscapes of Hokusai and Hiroshige. From the 1870s onwards, Japonisme became a prominent trend and had a strong influence on the early Impressionists such as Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet and Claude Monet, as well as influencing Post-Impressionists such as Vincent van Gogh, and Art Nouveau artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Template:TOC limit
See also
