Ukiyo E Explained

Ukiyo-e Explained

A great many volumes already exist on the subject of ukiyo-e – mostly single-focus works intended to appeal to connoisseurs or art historians. Ukiyo-e Explained, however, is the first integrated study with wider scholarly appeal to show how ukiyo-e is art but also social history, culture and craft. Indeed, ukiyo-e, or ‘floating world pictures’, form one of the most popular and widely known forms of Japanese art. Their history has been well documented in the past, and their distinctively decorative, often sensual, pictorial character is familiar to audiences around the world. This study illuminates new pathways to a greater appreciation of ukiyo-e by addressing the environments and conditions under which the artists worked, together with the factors that determined or conditioned the peculiar stylistic character of ukiyo-e. It also examines the particular forces that governed this distinctive type of picture-making, and the corresponding development of popular tastes with the audiences of the day, focusing especially on contemporary aesthetic sensibilities, the ways artists learned their craft, and the conditioning qualities of their medium.

Ukiyo-e

Ukiyo-e

The art of Japanese woodblock printing, known as ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world"), reflects the rich history and way of life in Japan hundreds of years ago. Ukiyo-e: The Art of the Japanese Print takes a thematic approach to this iconic Japanese art form, considering prints by subject matter: geisha and courtesans, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, erotica, nature, historical subjects and even images of foreigners in Japan. An artist himself, author Frederick Harris--a well-known American collector who lived in Japan for 50 years--pays special attention to the methods and materials employed in Japanese printmaking. The book traces the evolution of ukiyo-e from its origins in metropolitan Edo (Tokyo) art culture as black and white illustrations, to delicate two-color prints and multicolored designs. Advice to admirers on how to collect, care for, view and buy Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints rounds out this book of charming, carefully selected prints.