at Amazon.com
|
|
| Ukiyoe Print |
|
|
| Find Books on Ukiyoe at Amazon.com |
It wasn't until the 17th century that ukiyoe really became popular in Japan. Many of the images that we find in ukiyoe shops in Tokyo and Kyoto, in the flea markets, and antique shops are tatters of what used to be a very vibrant and rich tradition. Nevertheless, there are still many collectors of the prints that were made from the wood blocks, and different painted images of the prints can be found all over the world, sold through art dealers, galleries and through entrepreuners on the internet. The artists of that age would never have guessed that the pictures they created of beautiful women, geisha stars, or historical fantasy would have had such a wide appeal.
The style of the ukiyoe is wide and diverse. Depending on what school an artist belonged to would largely determine the style of interpretation of the subject, whether or not fine or bold lines were used, what thematic qualities were considered appropriate for that school, what coloration would be aesthetically acceptable, and what the purpose of the piece would serve. For many images we find in the "floating world" we see the faces of women long dead and gone, the lovely blooms of the geisha world. Others focus on a festival or season, evoking a sense of Japanese feeling towards these things. Some are partially religious in nature where we see priests and acolytes featured prominently. Yet others are of the fighting man, the warrior and samurai. As times and sensibilities shifted and changed, we even find ukiyoe which sponsor government invasion of foreign lands, and glorify the war-making of the more modern Japanese soldier.
Critics of ukiyoe find a wide berth of expression within this art form. Some artists are exalted as having captured the truest heart of the Japanese, while others are decried as being little better than hack pornographers. In many ways, the ukiyoe was the graphic art, or even comic book image, of its day and as such subject to the same voices of criticism we find within this art form to this very day.
Ukiyoe, in their greatest popularity were to be found all over Europe during the turn of the last century. When Sadoyakko and her theatrical troupe were first in England, France, Germany, and Russia she was often hailed as being the very image of Japanese beauty that seemingly stepped out of the ukiyoe itself and onto the stage. Her journeys to Europe took place in the early 1900's, and Europe had fallen in love with the exoticism of the Orient.
But despite the lack of ukiyoe craft which is done today, art collectors and those who love the texture and feel of these pieces can still aquire prints from original blocks here in Japan. You have to look around a little, but they are not an uncommon thing to find. As for new ukiyoe there are very few in production today, with one exception; the "floating world" of sumo. It is also here where yokozuna (grand champions) can still be immortalized in art.
What you will find in the ukiyoe on this site are prints that belong in my own collection. A fair number of them have been pressed in oversized books that have been rescued out of dusty old bookshops. Some of them are popular prints, representative of the artist or his school, and are considered rather common. There are others, though, which I have never seen in any other place, so I hope that you will enjoy looking on them and come to appreciate the colors, shape, themes, and artistic style which marks the ukiyoe as having a very special voice that articulates some of the best qualities of Japan.
Where possible I have identified the artist of the piece, but there are cases where this is not possible as such information has been lost, or perhaps more probable, that I have not been able to locate it yet. I hope that you enjoy these pieces, not only for the culture which they once reflected, but also for the imaginative power that they had, and the thoughts and feelings of the artist which still seem to speak to the Japanese, as well as to us outsiders, about the "floating world" of sensuality and aesthetic sensibility that once was, and still resonates in us today.
Mark Groenewold
February, 2004
| Site Home | All About Japan Home |