ART IN THE FAR EAST

LESSON 1
JAPAN – EDO UKIYO – e School
Firstly what all questions could be asked on this topic?
Q1. Write a short not on Ukiyo – e technique
or
Q2. Write a short not on Eduo – Ukiyo - e School
Q3. Write Chief Characteristics of Ukiyo-e

The meaning of the Japanese phrase Ukiyo E?

 Its a Japanese art movement that
flourished from the 17th to the 19th century
and produced paintings and prints depicting the everyday life and
interests of the common people.
 Ukiyo-e, often translated as "pictures of the floating world," refers to
Japanese paintings and woodblock prints that originally depicted the
cities‘ during the Edo Period
 Due to their cheap price and attractive appearance, these
Japanese woodcuts became hugely popular with ordinary townspeople
in the metropolitan culture of Edo (Tokyo), during the second half of the
17th century.
 The prints usually depicted
 tales from history,
 landscapes,
 scenes from the Kabuki theatre,
 as well as courtesans,
 geisha and
 other aspects of everyday city life
 By the 1860s, large quantities of inexpensive Japanese prints and other
artifacts were arriving in European ports.
These prints - notably works by 
 Harunobu (1724-1770), 
  Hiroshige (1797-1858),
 Hokusai (1760-1849), and 
 Utamaro (c.1753-1806) –
had an impact on the history of poster art as well as
European modern art movements like Impressionism, as well as
several schools of Post-Impressionism
Such was the craze for Japanese artworks, a phase known
as Japonism
 Woodblock printing enabled artists to reproduce large quantities of
cheap images and triggered the mass circulation of Ukiyo-e.
Suddenly art could be enjoyed by the general population as well as the
ruling elite.
 In fact, woodblock printing had been used to mass-produce Buddhist
religious texts and simple devotional images ever since the 8th century,
but it wasn't until the early 16th century that illustrated books were
printed.
 Characteristics of Ukiyo-e
In line with its mass-appeal, Ukiyo focused on the
 ordinary things of life.
 Appreciated for its bright colour and decorativeness,
 its images frequently depicted a narrative,
 and included animals,
 birds and
 landscapes,
 as well as people from the lower social classes,
 like courtesans,
 sumo wrestlers and
 Kibuki actors.
 Its impact on French painting was due to the unique characteristics of
Ukiyo-e, including its
 exaggerated foreshortening,
 asymmetry of design,
 areas of flat (unshaded) colour,
 and imaginative cropping of figures.
 Famous Ukiyo-e Artists
Important early exponents of the genre included the popular
 illustrator Hishikawa Moronobu (1618–1694)
  Torii Kiyomasu (a.1697-1722), who specialized in portraits
of Kabuki actors (Yakusha-e).
 During the 1740s, the first type of polychrome prints
(benizuri-e) were made,
 followed in the mid-1760s by full-colour brocade pictures
(nishiki-e) pioneered by Suzuki Harunobu (1724–1770).
 The more realistic portrayal of women was spearheaded
by Kitagawa Utamaro (c.1753-1806), who ushered in the
golden age of Ukiyo, of the first half of the 19th century.
 Another of the greatest Japanese Ukiyo-e artists of the Edo
period, was Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).
