Ukiyo-e , meaning -pictures of the floating world is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints or woodcuts and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre and pleasure quarters. It is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan.
The floating world (ukiyo) refers to the impetuous urban culture that bloomed and was a world unto itself. Although the traditional classes of Japanese society were bound by numerous strictures and prohibitions, the rising merchant class was relatively unregulated, therefore "floating." (pictures and headings from wikipedia)
The immediate precursor of the Ukiyo-e was the genre painting, that flourished in the late 16th and 17th centuries. It is debatable what criteria should be used to distinguish the earlier genre works from the ukiyo-e, eventhough one major difference is in the fact that the former were painted by members of the aristocratic schools such as the Kano~, whereas the ukiyo-e were done by townsman artists.
The floating world (ukiyo) refers to the impetuous urban culture that bloomed and was a world unto itself. Although the traditional classes of Japanese society were bound by numerous strictures and prohibitions, the rising merchant class was relatively unregulated, therefore "floating." (pictures and headings from wikipedia)
The immediate precursor of the Ukiyo-e was the genre painting, that flourished in the late 16th and 17th centuries. It is debatable what criteria should be used to distinguish the earlier genre works from the ukiyo-e, eventhough one major difference is in the fact that the former were painted by members of the aristocratic schools such as the Kano~, whereas the ukiyo-e were done by townsman artists.
The establishment of ukiyo-e as an independent art form was to great extent the work of Hishikawa Moronobu who was the son of a Kyoto embroiderer. He grew up in the ancient imperial capital Kyoto and moved to Edo where he perfectly captured in visual form, Edo's vital and and engaging spirit. Throughout the Tokugawa period, the art of ukiyo-e remained, first and foremost the art of Edo.
Moronobu possessed two qualities apart from his natural artistic ability, that made him a successful pioneer in ukiyo-e. He had an intimate and personal interest in townsman life and he was assertive to demand recognition as an independent artist.
Moronobu's great innovation was the make shift of painting to Woodblock printing. The earliest ukiyo-e done by Moronobu and others were simply black and white prints known as 'primitives'. Slowly artists began to have colors generally red or reddish brown and green painted in by hand on their prints. The multicolored print, known as nishiki-e or brocade picture necessitated cooperation from three people - the artist, the wooblock carver, and the printer and became a joint artistic endeavor.
From the beginning, ukiyo-e artists were interested in two subjects - Women of the pleasure quarters and kabuki actors. Throughout the Tokugawa period the overwhelming majority of prints they produced were of these two subjects of nightlife. The ukiyo-e representations of pleasure women and actors usually stress the sensual and erotic, in contrast to the earlier genre paintings in which people were for the most part portrayed objectively and with little infusion of emotion on the part of the artist.
Many artists of the ukiyo-e school are noted for their depiction of feminine beauty. But the most celebrated among them is Kitagawa Utamaro. Utamaro-san's typical beauties are long and willowy and have about them a languid and sensual air, often portrayed in great intimacy, with one or both breasts opened and with hair and clothing casually displayed.
Utamaro san in his celebration of the beauty of the female body, represented something new in the Japanese cultural tradition. Until this age of townsman culture and establishment of the artistic theme of erotic love, the Japanese had devoted little attention to the human body, either male or female, as an object of beauty.
One of Utamaro san's contemporaries was a mysterious genius Toshusai Sharaku. He did mostly kabuki actors. The less-well-known sōsaku hanga movement, literally creative prints, followed a Western concept of what art should be: the product of the creativity of the artists, creativity over artisanship.
Traditionally, the processes of making ukiyo-e — the design, carving, printing, and publishing — were separated and done by different and highly specialized people (as was also traditionally the case with Western woodcuts. Sōsaku hanga advocated that the artist should be involved in all stages of production.
The movement was formally established with the formation of the Japanese Creative Print Society in 1918, however, it was commercially less successful, as Western collectors preferred the more traditionally Japanese look of shin hanga.
Ukiyo-e are still produced today and are influential in many ways, inspiring, for example, manga and anime.
Moronobu possessed two qualities apart from his natural artistic ability, that made him a successful pioneer in ukiyo-e. He had an intimate and personal interest in townsman life and he was assertive to demand recognition as an independent artist.
Moronobu's great innovation was the make shift of painting to Woodblock printing. The earliest ukiyo-e done by Moronobu and others were simply black and white prints known as 'primitives'. Slowly artists began to have colors generally red or reddish brown and green painted in by hand on their prints. The multicolored print, known as nishiki-e or brocade picture necessitated cooperation from three people - the artist, the wooblock carver, and the printer and became a joint artistic endeavor.
From the beginning, ukiyo-e artists were interested in two subjects - Women of the pleasure quarters and kabuki actors. Throughout the Tokugawa period the overwhelming majority of prints they produced were of these two subjects of nightlife. The ukiyo-e representations of pleasure women and actors usually stress the sensual and erotic, in contrast to the earlier genre paintings in which people were for the most part portrayed objectively and with little infusion of emotion on the part of the artist.
Many artists of the ukiyo-e school are noted for their depiction of feminine beauty. But the most celebrated among them is Kitagawa Utamaro. Utamaro-san's typical beauties are long and willowy and have about them a languid and sensual air, often portrayed in great intimacy, with one or both breasts opened and with hair and clothing casually displayed.
Utamaro san in his celebration of the beauty of the female body, represented something new in the Japanese cultural tradition. Until this age of townsman culture and establishment of the artistic theme of erotic love, the Japanese had devoted little attention to the human body, either male or female, as an object of beauty.
One of Utamaro san's contemporaries was a mysterious genius Toshusai Sharaku. He did mostly kabuki actors. The less-well-known sōsaku hanga movement, literally creative prints, followed a Western concept of what art should be: the product of the creativity of the artists, creativity over artisanship.
Traditionally, the processes of making ukiyo-e — the design, carving, printing, and publishing — were separated and done by different and highly specialized people (as was also traditionally the case with Western woodcuts. Sōsaku hanga advocated that the artist should be involved in all stages of production.
The movement was formally established with the formation of the Japanese Creative Print Society in 1918, however, it was commercially less successful, as Western collectors preferred the more traditionally Japanese look of shin hanga.
Ukiyo-e are still produced today and are influential in many ways, inspiring, for example, manga and anime.
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