Ukiyo-e - A Glimpse at Non-Western Art
Ukiyo-e, meaning "pictures of the floating world" was a style of art that flourished in Japan from the mid-17th century until the mid-19th century when it fell into steep decline. The floating world referred to the red light districts of Tokyo (known as Edo prior to 1868), along with the fleeting pleasures of life in general. As such, artists working in the style favored elegant (and sometimes highly erotic) depictions of courtesans, geisha, urban life, kabuki theatre, and natural beauty.
While the ukiyo-e style also included paintings, most works were produced on woodblocks, allowing them to be printed in high volumes and cheaply sold to the masses. Due to their mass availability, many ukiyo-e prints found their way overseas, becoming highly influential to Western artists, particularly Impressionists like Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh.
Kitagawa Utamaro, Tsuitate no Danjo (1797)
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Tsuitate no Danjo ("Man and Woman by a Partitioning Screen"). This woodblock print belongs to the bjin-ga subgenre, meaning "pictures of beauties." Utamaro was primarily known for ōkubi-e portraits such as this one, showing only the head or torso of its subjects. His trademark style was to depict his beauties with exceptionally elongated and rounded heads, along with miniscule eyes and mouths.
One thing that immediately stands out here is something you don't see much of in Western art: the use of negative space. Space in general plays an important role in Eastern art, and ukiyo-e is no exception. Known as "ma" in Japanese, the importance of negative space is observed throughout numerous aspects of life ranging from art to music to philosophy to the way traditional Japanese homes are designed. The idea is that the interval between things gives definition to the things. In Tsuitate no Danjo, the large empty space creates room for the relationship between the man and woman to be contemplated. If that space were filled with other visual curiosities, it wouldn't serve the subjects in the same manner.
Color is used sparingly, which is characteristic of woodblock prints in general, but also in keeping with the overall minimalism of the other elements: the elegant simplicity of the shapes and lines, the flattened perspective. The patterns on the man and woman's clothes are allowed their striking business because Utamaro used so much restraint everywhere else.
Tsuitate no Danjo was most likely created in Edo, where Utamaro lived and worked.
Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1829-1833)
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Hokusai was known for his legendary landscapes. The Great Wave off Kanagawa belongs to a series of prints called Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. Here, Mt. Fuji, notably Japan's highest mountain, stands far away on the horizon where it appears dwarfed by a giant wave.
Aizuri-e prints such as this one use prominently blue tones, with Hokusai favoring traditional Japanese indigo and Prussian blue, which had recently become widely available in Japan. Hokusai's woodblock prints were notably complex because of the amount of colors he used. Each color applied to the print would require a separate woodblock, so a print like this one would have required five or six blocks.
The general rule of ukiyo-e and many other styles of Eastern art is to be as expressive as possible with as little as possible. In The Great Wave off Kanagawa, every line, shape, and color present is wisely chosen for maximum effect. The dynamic patterns of the curling wave crest and sea spray emphasize the immense energy of the wave. The flowing lines of the smaller waves all travel in unison, carrying all of the energy and motion upwards into the great wave.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa was probably created in Edo where Hokusai lived for most of his life.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre (1844)
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Differentiating himself from most of his contemporaries, Kuniyoshi's woodblock prints often depicted scenes from history and folklore. This triptych tells a story that combined history and legend. The Princess Takiyasha, living in her father's ruined palace after a devastating battle, was said to have studied witchcraft and used it to summon a skeleton to frighten away the ghosts of fallen soldiers haunting the palace.
I find Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre remarkable for its detail and complexity:
From the numerous intricate patterns to the fine lines in the people's hair, Kuniyoshi demonstrates a granular attention to detail. While so much of the composition is filled with detail, space is still paid attention to: notice how the broken latticework frames the figure of the princess and the ample darkness surrounding the skeleton. I count eight separate colors, including the multiple shades of blue and gray used to add layers of tone to the shadows. My favorite touch is the hint of redness in the face and hands of the man on the ground.
Like Utamaro and Hokusai, Kuniyoshi lived and worked in Edo, where Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre was most likely created. He struggled in poverty for over ten years before finding success with his uniquely dramatic scenes of monsters and heroism.
Kawanabe Kyōsai, Flower and Birds (1881)
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Unlike the previous examples, this ukiyo-e piece comes in the form of a painting rather than a woodblock. And what great use is made of the medium. Without sacrificing the elegance of the woodblock designs, Kyōsai uses paint to add much finer variation in the color tones and hues than could be achieved on woodblock prints.
This is easily my one of my favorite artworks featured throughout the entirety of this blog. I could devour it. The overall spatial composition, every dab of color, everything is pure Zen perfection. The twisting form of the branch the hawks perch upon is sumptuous. The various flowers, leaves, and branches surrounding the hawks carefully shape the empty space around them. Even when painted, ukiyo-e stands apart from Western art in its distinctive use of negative space.
Flowers and Birds belongs to the kachō-e subgenre, meaning, you guessed it, "flower-and-bird pictures." Kyōsai's subject matter ranged from wildlife to mythical scenes to house cats to bathhouses.
Kyōsai was born in Koga during the Edo period, the son of a samurai. As a boy growing up in Koga, he found a decapitated head in a river. During his life, Japan transitioned from a feudal state to an industrialized nation in the Meiji period. He later lived in Toyko, where Flowers and Birds was probably painted. He trained under Kuniyoshi and was influenced by Hokusai. He was infamously fond of drinking sake and created many of his paintings under the influence, signing his works Shōjō Kyōsai, or "Drunken Kyōsai."
Hiroshi Yoshida, Fuji from Kawaguchi Lake (1926)
Image courtesy of Ukiyo-e.org.
While the production of ukiyo-e prints and paintings declined after the mid-19th century, the style saw a resurgence during the early 20th century with the shin-hanga ("new-prints") movement. Works such as Fuji from Kawaguchi Lake revived the old woodblock technique and compositional style of classic ukiyo-e art, while also incorporating elements of Western Impressionism.
Taking a cue from French Impressionists like Monet, Yoshida would sometimes capture the same scene at multiple times of day in order to capture variations in light. Notice that in the reflections in the water and the subtle haze in the sky, the fleeting effects of light and time of day play an important role in his work.
I enjoy the moody atmosphere of this print, especially the contrasting warm tones of the dusky sky and the cool tones of the water. The snow patches, waterline, and clouds all have gentle organic forms that compliment each other nicely. The subtle texture of ground makes the snow look all the more crisp beside it.
Yoshida, an avid traveler, and taking another page from the Impressionists' book, captured the initial designs for his prints en plein air. So Fuji from Kawaguchi Lake was almost certainly captured on site at Kawaguchi Lake. However, the transfer to woodblock and printing process was probably done in Tokyo, where he lived and maintained his print shop.
Works Cited
Alex,
ReplyDeleteI love Ukiyo-e art. I think my other forms of art and artists have taken inspiration from its style. Your inclusion of Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre was a great choice! I love this artwork, as it reminds me of something that would have been painted later than the 1840’s. The attention to detail is mesmerizing, and the story of Princess Takiyasha using witchcraft to keep away ghosts of fallen soldiers is riveting.
Alex,
ReplyDeleteThank you for showing me examples of Ukiyo-e art. I really enjoy the warm colors used in all of the paintings and wood block prints you shared in your blog. There's a theme that ties all of these pieces of art together that gathers my attention. I think its the hues, colors, and the spatial composition. Every painting you shown seems to be alive with movement even though it first appears to have a minimalistic approach once you look closer you can see the detail. Especially in the "flower-and birds picture". It has the much finer color variation and I think that adds an element of texture and depth. Great blog this week! Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm in art!
I did my last blog on Nihonga, which many artists used Ukiyo-e as inspiration for many of their pieces. So it was nice to see the traditional Ukiyo-e to make a comparison to the Nihonga art style. What I really enjoy about this style is the use of negative space and how detailed they are despite being minimalist. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Alex, thank you for sharing your perspective on this weeks theme. I haven’t looked into this type of artwork but I really enjoy it. I love the element of color in all these pieces. Color can so easily set the tone. Here, you can see how colors do that. The warm and cooler colors make you feel as if you are in those scenes. It’s really cool how art can do something like that. Thank you for bringing this artwork to my attention!
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