Theory Of Design

Ukiyo-e

Submitted To: Ar. Sachin Paliwal Ar. Megha Shroti

Submitted By: Suruchi Sharma B.Arch, III Sem, B sec SOA, IPSA

Ukiyo-e
1600-1867

 Ukiyo-e , literally "pictures of the floating world is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints (or woodcuts) and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries. It featured motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters. It is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan. The art of ukiyo-e originated in the metropolitan culture of Edo (Tokyo) during the period of Japanese history, when the political and military power was in the hands of the shoguns, and the country was virtually isolated from the rest of the world.

 Concept of a floating painting by The contemporary novelist Asai Ryi, in his Ukiyo monogatari ("Tales of the Floating World", 1661)...

Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating, floating; ... refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call the floating world...

 The art form rose to great popularity in the metropolitan culture of Edo (Tokyo) during the second half of the 17th century, originating with the single-color works of Hishikawa Moronobu in the 1670s. At first, only India ink was used, then some prints were manually colored with a brush

Ukiyo-e can be categorized into two periods: the Edo period, which comprises ukiyo-e from its origins in the 1620s until about 1867, when the Meiji period began, lasting until 1912. The Edo period was largely a period of calm that provided an ideal environment for the development of the art in a commercial form; while the Meiji period is characterized by new influences as Japan opened up to the West.

MAKING OF THE UKIYO-E PAINTINGS

The artist produced a master drawing in ink. An assistant, called a hikk, would then create a tracing (hanshita) of the master. Craftsmen glued the hanshita facedown to a block of wood and cut away the areas where the paper was white. This left the drawing, in reverse, as a relief print on the block, but destroyed the hanshita. This block was inked and printed, making near-exact copies of the original drawing.

A first test copy, called a kygozuri, would be given to the artist for a final check.

The prints were in turn glued, face-down, to blocks and those areas of the design which were to be printed in a particular color were left in relief. Each of these blocks printed at least one color in the final design.
The resulting set of woodblocks were inked in different colors and sequentially impressed onto paper. The final print bore the impressions of each of the blocks, some printed more than once to obtain just the right depth of color.

 Hishikawa Moronobu (1618 1694)

UKIYO-E ARTISTS
Torii Kiyonobu I (c.16641729)

Suzuki Harunobu (17241770)

Torii Kiyonaga (17521817)

Utamaro (ca. 17531806)

Sharaku (active 17941795)

Hokusai (17601849)

Toyokuni (17691825)

 Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan became open to imports from the West, including photography, which largely replaced ukiyo-e during the bunmei-kaika

. When Europeans saw them, however, they became a major source of inspiration for Impressionist, Cubist, and Post-Impressionist artists

Ukiyo-e fell so far out of fashion that the prints, now practically worthless, were used as packing material for trade goods.

Though ukiyo-e saw its end in the Meiji period, and the term is not applied to works after that time, in the 20th century, during the Taish and Shwa periods, new print forms arose in Japan.