Art History Essay Research

The history of the Ukiyo-e woodcut prints

Who made these woodcuts, name, age of the artist at the time of making these woodcuts, 

If multiple artists list all in order of when woodcuts were released 

By 1765, artists like Harunobu were designing polychrome prints called nishiki-e or “brocade pictures.”

Ando Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Toyokuni III, and Keisai Eisen among them ( https://www.artsy.net/gene/ukiyo-e )

What date/ period

1765 and remained popular until the closing decades of the Meiji period (1868 – 1912).

Edo period (1615–1868) the phrase "the floating world" (ukiyo) evoked an imagined universe of wit, stylishness, and extravagance—with overtones of naughtiness, hedonism, and transgression.

Where are they from/what part of japan

The Japanese art of Ukiyo-e developed in the city of Edo (now Tokyo) during the Tokugawa or Edo Period (1615-1868). These two names refer to the relatively peaceful 250 years during which the Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan and made Edo the shogunal seat of power.

What was the reason behind the paintings( if there was a reason what is it) why did the artist do it.

Ukiyo-e printmakers utilized themes from daily life in a large city as well as drawing from the beauty of the Japanese landscape. Another situation common to the culture of a large city such as Edo, and to contribute to the motifs of the ukiyo-e printmaker was the area of the city given over to pleasure. Known as the Yoshiwara; the district was organized and regulated by businessmen with government approval. Some of the most beautiful women in Japan provided their services at very high prices. The women of the Yoshiwara district were not acquired by their own choice. Women were sentenced to the Yoshiwara by judges

What these woodcuts ARE, 

 “Commerce flourished in the Edo period, and especially in the late Edo period, ukiyo-e were used to advertise eating and drinking establishments and the clothes shops that evolved into today’s famous department stores.” (Koyama-Richard, 2013).

“Ukiyo-e constantly expanded to reflect contemporary tastes, concerns, and innovations over the two and a half centuries of its development. The result was an art that was both populist …  and highly sophisticated.” Loc.gov. (N.D.)  

What makes these woodcuts special from a historical standpoint.

The art what are made from/ any special wood/ painting and practices of the floating world of Ukiyo-e 

What they are made from/ any special wood/ paint

Pigments for these prints were water based, vegetable dyes, which produced a soft and subtle range of colors. Artists and printers collaborated to produce ever more subtle effects such as the color nuances of a reflection in water and mirrors, or seeing objects through gauze textiles. A metallic powder called mica was sometimes added to colors to give a shimmering surface.

Ukiyo-e, each image was created through the collaborative effort of four skilled individuals: the publisher who coordinated the efforts of the specialized artisans and marketed the artworks; the artist who designed the artworks and drew them in ink on paper; the carver who meticulously carved the designs into a woodblock, or, in most cases, a series of woodblocks (during the Edo period the number of blocks averaged ten to sixteen); and a printer who applied pigments to the woodblocks and printed each color on handmade paper. Each member of this team was highly skilled and had nearly equal responsibilities for the final result.

he early prints are spare and monochromatic, printed in black ink only, some with minimal hand-coloring. Later works are built up in lavish layers of printed color, some with embossed areas created by the interplay of pressure, carving, and paper texture. In some works, flecks of ground metal or mica have been applied to surfaces, creating areas that shimmer; in some a thick passage of glue and black printing ink creates a lacquer-like surface.

What specific practices did the artist use on this woodcut 

All of the materials used in the ukiyo-e print making process were derived from plant life or minerals. The artist initinted the process by a drawing with a brush sketch in sumi ink on a very thin tissue like paper that was very sturdy, and made from the fibers of the paper mulberry plant. Sumi is black pigment obtained from lampblack or the soot of burnt pine needles. The pigment was combined with glue and shaped into little slabs of ink. When dry the slabs of ink were rubbed on an inkstone and mixed with water to produce the intensity of black needed. Once the sketch was completed it was carefully glued with dosa, a mixture of alum and glue, to specially selected blocks of cherry wood. Alum, a mineral salt, worked in the dosa mixture as a sizing that helped to prevent the paper from wrinkling when it was pasted to the woodblock. The cherry woodblock had to be without imperfections. It was always cut with the grain, stored for a number of years to season, and finally planed to a very smooth surface

Are there any obvious influences in which you can tell the artist took note from. 

 “During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, ukiyo-e began as hand-painted scrolls and screens of everyday life. Paintings often depicted popular recreations and entertainment, such as street dancing, cherry blossom viewing, and festivals, and beautiful women engaged in leisurely pursuits.” Khan Academy. (N.D.). 

 “ as hand-painted scrolls and screens of everyday life. Paintings often depicted popular recreations and entertainment, such as street dancing, cherry blossom viewing, and festivals, and beautiful women engaged in leisurely pursuits.”Khan Academy. (N.D.).

Are there people in the future who have obviously been influenced by these woodcuts.

What makes these woodcuts special from a technical standpoint.

“each image was created through the collaborative effort of four skilled individuals: the publisher who coordinated the efforts of the specialized artisans and marketed the artworks” Loc.gov. (N.D.) 

The earliest woodblock prints were simple black and white prints taken from a single block. Sometimes they were coloured by hand, but this process was expensive. In the 1740s, additional woodblocks were used to print the colours pink and green, but it wasn't until 1765 that the technique of using multiple colour woodblocks was perfected.

ukiyo-e began as hand-painted scrolls and screens of everyday life. Paintings often depicted popular recreations and entertainment, such as street dancing, cherry blossom viewing, and festivals, and beautiful women engaged in leisurely pursuits.

How the woodcuts express and reflect the history of japan

How the artist/s represented japan in special ways through these woodcuts

Why these woodcuts are important

What do these woodcuts represent, historically 

“Ukiyo-e presented both the historical and all that was current, fashionable, chic, and popular. In the hands of the Ukiyo-e artist, the ordinary was transformed into the extraordinary.”  Loc.gov. (N.D.).  

“Ukiyo-e constantly expanded to reflect contemporary tastes, concerns, and innovations over the two and a half centuries of its development. The result was an art that was both populist …  and highly sophisticated.” Loc.gov. (N.D.) 

What makes these woodcuts special from an in-depth standpoint, 

Who Made what?

”Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Specter from the Story of Utö Yasutaka (c. 1843-1847).... a scene from the Story of Utö Yasutaka (1807) by Santö Kyöden, creates a dramatic panorama as an animated human skeleton fills the far right panel and extends, menacingly, in the middle panel, to tower over the huddled Oya Taro Mitsukuni and his companion. In the left panel, Princess Takiyasha holds a scroll from which she recites the spell to call up the skeleton. The Princess was the daughter of a warlord who had been killed while rebelling against the emperor,” Seiferle (2018).

“great wave (the alternative title for this work is The Great Wave), painted in Hokusai's favoured Prussian blue, its crest breaking in stylized depictions of white foam” Seiferle (2018). 

 “Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave) (c. 1830-32)” Seiferle (2018)

Khan Academy. (n.d.). The evolution of ukiyo-e and woodblock prints. [online] Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/art-japan/edo-period/a/the-evolution-of-ukiyo-e-and-woodblock-prints [Accessed 16 Sep. 2019].

Khan Academy. (n.d.). The Floating World of Edo Japan. [online] Available at: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/art-japan/edo-period/a/the-floating-world-of-edo-japan [Accessed 16 Sep. 2019].

Koyama-Richard, B. (2013). Ukiyo-e Prints Reflect the Popular Culture of Edo. [online] nippon.com. Available at: https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b02305/ukiyo-e-prints-reflect-the-popular-culture-of-edo.html [Accessed 26 Oct. 2019].

Loc.gov. (N.D.). Overview - The Floating World of Ukiyo-e | Exhibitions - Library of Congress. [online] Available at: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ukiyo-e/intro.html [Accessed 7 Oct. 2019].

Victoria and Albert Museum. (n.d.). V&A · Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e). [online] Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/japanese-woodblock-prints-ukiyo-e [Accessed 16 Sep. 2019]. 

Seiferle, R (2018).  Ukiyo-e Japanese Prints Movement Overview and Analysis. [online] https://www.theartstory.org/movement/ukiyo-e-japanese-woodblock-prints/artworks/  [Accessed 29 Oct 2019]