Saturday, 18 May 2013

Japanese


Japanese art influenced many countries especially the west. In 1853 the Japanese started to trade the woodblocks of the ukiyo-e with the west. Basically woodblock printing is printing on a block of wood. These Japanese woodblock prints inspired many impressionists’ painters and later the Art Nouveau’s painters and the cubists.


Ukiyo-e paintings

During the Edo period the life in the Japanese cities were captured in popular prints and paintings that are known as the Ukiyo-e (the floating world). The Ukiyo-e was also known for the highly refined brush paintings on silk and paper. Until the eighteenth century the method of the woodblock prints remained and started to use this method to print texts. The Ukiyo-e paintings concentrate more on the world of the courtesan and geisha and other subjects such as the theatrical scenes, landscapes and outdoor pastimes. These woodblock prints were popular and appreciated in the west for more than a century.    

Otani Oniji II, dated 1794
Toshusai Sharaku (Japanese, active 1794–95)
Polychrome woodcut print on paper




References:




Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2013. Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style | Thematic Essay |Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ukiy/hd_ukiy.htm. [Accessed 12 May 2013].


Japonism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Japonism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japonisme. [Accessed 12 May 2013].





No comments:

Post a Comment