Ukiyo-e woodblock prints

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Samson Wilkins
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1 Ukiyo-e woodblock prints

The Edo Period (1615-1868) A time period in Japan when the country was unified under the Tokugawa family after years of civil unrest.

2 The Edo Period ( ) A time period in Japan when the country was unified under the Tokugawa family after years of civil unrest. Known for its years of peace and prosperity, prompting an increase in artistic, cultural and social development. Remained a basically agrarian society, towns and cities grew and craft production flourished. Improved transport and communication networks meant that for the first time even the most remote areas had access to goods produced in other parts of the country. Urban centers emerged during this time including Edo (modern day Tokyo). Isolated- wanted limited contact with the outside world so banned Christianity and expelled all Western foreigners except the Dutch

3 Portrait of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi by Tosa Mitsuoki 17 th century

4 Social Structure in the Edo Period Ruled by the Tokugawa family, with each successive head assuming the rank of Shogun. This title was bestowed by the Emperor who, during the Edo period, was merely a figurehead and exercised no political authority. To encourage stability, the Tokugawa regime divided society into four classes: Warriors military lords of each province who were served by retainers called samurai who acted as soldiers and officials. Farmers the main producers of the rice crop that was taxed to support the needs of the ruling class. Artisans produced non-agricultural goods. Merchants were not directly involved with production. benefited from Japan's peace and prosperity and became extremely rich, yet the strict social hierarchy prevented them from using their wealth to improve their status or acquire political power in an overt fashion. Instead they often channeled their money into social ritual, the pursuit of pleasure and the acquisition of beautiful and often expensive objects.

5 How were the prints made? ww.youtub e.com/wat ch?v=t8uf 3PZ3KGQ

Style/Characteristics of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints pictures of the floating world Transience of human life and the ephemerality of the material world Rapid development of printing industry led to the

6 Style/Characteristics of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints pictures of the floating world Transience of human life and the ephemerality of the material world Rapid development of printing industry led to the availability of numerous books and printed images. Settings were often Kabuki theaters and the Yoshiwara Japan s most famous pleasure quarter focusing on leisure activities, fashions and celebrities of the floating world, including prominent courtesans, actors and even a teahouse waitress known throughout the districts for her beauty. Also depicted young women in both domestic and public settings and landscapes

7 Pair work Look at your assigned print and answer the questions!

16 Midnight: Mother and Sleepy Child 1790 by Kitagawa Utamaro

17 Armwrestling 1794 by Utamaro

18 Hour of the Hare [6am], Servant Women) by Utamaro

19 Night Rain at the Double-Shelf Stand, from the series Eight Parlor Views (Zashiki hakkei) by Suzuki Harunobu 1766

20 Lovers Walking in the Snow (Crow and Heron) by: Suzuki Harunobu

21 Evening Snow at Kanbara, from the series "Fiftythree Stations of the Tōkaidō by Utagawa Hiroshige

22 Otsu by Utaga wa Hirosh ige 1840

23 Foreigners in the Drawing Room of Foreign Merchant's House in Yokohama 1861 by Utagawa

24 Influencing Cassatt In the spring of 1890, shortly after visiting an extensive exhibition of Japanese prints at the Ecole des beaux-arts, Paris, Mary Cassatt wrote a note to Berthe Morisot: "You who want to make color prints wouldn t dream of anything more beautiful.... You must see the Japanese come as soon as you can." Woodblock images by late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century masters such as Kitagawa Utamaro and Katsushika Hokusai had intrigued artists and collectors since the 1850s, when Japan became open to Western trade. The 1890 exhibition, organized by art dealer Siegfried Bing, included over seven hundred objects and provided an unprecedented view of the tradition of Japanese printmaking known as ukiyo-e (the floating world). Cassatt, like many other artists, made several visits to the display. Her admiration of the linear delicacy, tonal variety, and compositional strength of the works she saw there inspired her to take her own printmaking in a highly innovative direction.

25 The Bath, 1891 Soft-ground etching with aquatint and drypoint on paper

The Letter (1890-91) Drypoint and aquatint on

26 The Letter ( ) Drypoint and aquatint on paper - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

27 Mother s Kiss, Soft-ground etching with aquatint and drypoint on paper

28 In the Omnibus,

ARTH305 Guided Observation 3: Japanese Woodblock Prints

ARTH305 Guided Observation 3: Japanese Woodblock Prints This assignment will introduce you to Edo (1615-1868) and Meiji (1868-1912) Period Japanese woodblock prints by asking you to examine how four major