The genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings called, "Ukiyo-e" or pictures of the floating world, were produced between the 17th and 20th centuries and feature motifs of landscapes, the theater and pleasure quarters. A Japanese sailboat, tree, shoreline and hills in the background are one of the most popular of images.
At first, only India ink was used and then some prints were manually colored with a brush. However, in the 18th century, Suzuki Harunobu developed the technique of polychrome printing to produce śnishiki-e."
Ukiyo-e were affordable because they could be mass-produced. They were meant for mainly townsmen, who were generally not wealthy enough to afford an original painting. The original subject of Ukiyo-e was city life, in particular activities and scenes from the entertainment district. Beautiful courtesans, bulky sumo wrestlers and popular actors would be portrayed while engaged in appealing activities. Later, landscapes also became popular. Political subjects and individuals above the lowest strata of society (courtesans, wrestlers and actors) were not sanctioned in these prints and appeared very rarely in them. Sex was not a sanctioned subject either, but continually appeared in Ukiyo-e prints. Artists and publishers were sometimes punished for creating these sexually explicit shunga.
In 1853, Commander Perry arrived in Edo Bay to negotiate with the government of Japan on behalf of the USA. After some 50 years of unsuccessful efforts by Western powers, this effort led to the end of the policy of Sakoku, the policy of secluding with country which had continued since 1633.
These Japanese contemporary prints of this time were carried back to the western world by westerners. Educated Europeans began to visit in large numbers. Books and articles in France contemporaneous with Sir Rutherford's work started the West's love affair with Japanese prints that has carried on to this day.
The Japanese concept of Ukiyo came from Buddhism, which thought that worldly joys are transient and that detachment from desire and craving would lead to understanding and enlightenment. In Edo, Japan, this concept was twisted to be that if material joys were fleeting why not enjoy them to the fullest. The pictures of these joys became Ukiyo-e scenes of the floating world. Masters of this period starting with early artists are Hishikawa Moronoby (1615-1694), Suzuki Harunobu(1725-1770) who was the first to use full color printing, Kitagawa Utamaro(1753-1806), Toshusai Sharaku, Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and Ando Hiroshige(1797-1858).
The production of these prints ended by 1912. Two different schools of printmakers emerged to dominate the first half of the 20th century. They are Sosaku Hanga and Shin Hanga. The sosaku hanga movemnt was influenced by European ideas that the artist was central to all aspects of the printing process. The Shin Hanga movement was more traditional following the Ukiyo-e tradition. In the Shin Hanga movement, the publisher was most central which means the design, block-making and printing were given to different artists.
After World War II many young Japanese artists were strongly influenced by Europe and the United States in style and technique. These contemporary prints are unique and separate from the earlier printmaking styles. Masters of this later period include Munakata Shiko (1903-1995) and Toda Shinoda who was born in 1913.
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