TRADITIONAL UKIYO-E WOODCUT ARTISTS
1.
Katsushika Hokusai
KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (葛飾北斎, 1760–May 10, 1849) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. In his time he was Japan's leading expert on Chinese painting. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best-known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (c. 1831) which includes the iconic and internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s. Hokusai created the "Thirty-Six Views" both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. It was this series, specifically The Great Wave print and Fuji in Clear Weather, that secured Hokusai’s fame both within Japan and overseas. As historian Richard Lane concludes, “Indeed, if there is one work that made Hokusai's name, both in Japan and abroad, it must be this monumental print-series...” While Hokusai's work prior to this series is certainly important, it was not until this series that he gained broad recognition and left a lasting impact on the art world. It was The Great Wave print that initially received, and continues to receive, acclaim and popularity in the Western world.
Katsushika Hokusai
KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (葛飾北斎, 1760–May 10, 1849) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. In his time he was Japan's leading expert on Chinese painting. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best-known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (c. 1831) which includes the iconic and internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s. Hokusai created the "Thirty-Six Views" both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. It was this series, specifically The Great Wave print and Fuji in Clear Weather, that secured Hokusai’s fame both within Japan and overseas. As historian Richard Lane concludes, “Indeed, if there is one work that made Hokusai's name, both in Japan and abroad, it must be this monumental print-series...” While Hokusai's work prior to this series is certainly important, it was not until this series that he gained broad recognition and left a lasting impact on the art world. It was The Great Wave print that initially received, and continues to receive, acclaim and popularity in the Western world.
This link will take you to research information on Katsushika Hoksai. This link provides an artist biograpghy, print gallery, videos and interactive puzzles tohelpyou understand tradition Ukiyo-e Art.
http://www.katsushikahokusai.com/katsushika-hokusai-paintings.jsp#prettyPhoto
http://www.katsushikahokusai.com/katsushika-hokusai-paintings.jsp#prettyPhoto
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2.
Suzuki Harunobu Suzuki Harunobu (ca. 1725-1770) was one of the six great masters of the Japanese wood-block print and was responsible for inventing the fully developed color print called nishiki-e, or brocade painting. Born in Edo (modern Tokyo), Harunobu was one of the large group of artists whose work was devoted to the portrayal of scenes from contemporary life, especially the Kabuki theater and the courtesans of Yoshiwara, the amusement district of Edo. Tradition has it that Harunobu was a pupil of the famous Kyoto printmaker Sukenobu, but it is clear that he must also have studied the printmakers of the Torii school as well as Toyonobu and Chinese figure painters of the Ming period. Harunobu's early works are of little distinction, generally following the conventional style of the day. At the age of 40 Harunobu emerged as the master of the color print. The event which established his reputation took place in 1765, when a group of amateur poets decided to print a deluxe edition of an illustrated calendar which they wished to distribute among their friends. Due to the genius of Harunobu and the excellence of the engraving and printing, which for the first time used multiple colors, this work at once became the rage of Edo. Encouraged by the enthusiastic reception of the color prints, the artist embarked upon a period of great activity during which he produced no less than 600 prints in 6 years, but his brilliant career was cut short when he died at the age of 45. The prints of Harunobu, which many Ukiyo-e collectors regard as the best ever made, are outstanding both for the beauty of their design and the superb quality of their execution, in which the finest natural colors and the best-quality cherry wood were used. Harunobu's subjects were graceful and slender young girls, some of whom were courtesans, though he was more apt to portray beauties from the streets and shops of Edo. Another group of his prints dealt with erotic subjects, which were treated with the refinement and sophistication for which he was famous. His vision of life is a very poetic one in which 18th-century Edo is transformed into a world of charm and elegance, with willowy beauties in colorful kimonos meeting their lovers, viewing nature, or simply pursuing the daily activities of their domestic life. Although Harunobu was merely one of hundreds of Ukiyo-e artists who made prints dealing with these subjects, he is outstanding for the lyrical quality of his images and the delicate beauty of his colors and designs. Reducing the forms to flat, clearly defined, decorative patterns of color and showing a technical mastery rarely achieved in the history of Ukiyo-e, Harunobu produced some of the masterpieces of this art, works which were much admired in his own life and aroused the enthusiasm of artists like Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas when the prints were introduced to Paris in the late 19th century. |
The following link will take you to the Vimeo pictured to the left.
https://vimeo.com/89983973 This link takes you slowly through the amazing works of Suzuki Harunobu. |
3.
Utagawa Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese: 歌川 広重), also Andō Hiroshige (Japanese: 安藤 広重; 1797 – 12 October 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, such as the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaido; and for his depictions of birds and flowers. The subjects of his work were atypical of the ukiyo-e genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo Period (1603–1868). The popular Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints. For scholars and collectors, Hiroshige's death marked the beginning of a rapid decline in the ukiyo-e genre, especially in the face of the westernization that followed the Meji Restoration of 1868. Hiroshige's work came to have a marked influence on Western painting towards the close of the 19th century as a part of the trend in Japonism. Western artists closely studied Hiroshige's compositions, and some, such as van Gogh, painted copies of Hiroshige's prints. |
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The link will connect you to the Tokyo Digital Museum that has an interactive viewing of selected Hiroshirge prints. They are accompanied with a written detailed overview of everything you need to know about the artwork.
http://digitalmuseum.rekibun.or.jp/app/selected/edo-tokyo http://digitalmuseum.rekibun.or.jp/app/selected/edo-tokyo?no=200704&lang=en&hidfif=selected%2F01_200704%2F83200042-0000.fpx&hidtxt=selected%2F01_200704%2F83200042_en.txthttp://digitalmuseum.rekibun.or.jp/app/selected/edo-tokyo?no=200704&lang=en&hidfif=selected%2F01_200704%2F83200042-0000.fpx&hidtxt=selected%2F01_200704%2F83200042_en.txt |
How to use this? Teachers could turn this into a research project where students could pick an artist - search artworks, biography information, materials, techniques, styles, viewpoints etc.
LA's - English, History
GC's - Intercultural Understanding, ICT and Literacy
CCP's - Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia, Sustainability (Community)
LA's - English, History
GC's - Intercultural Understanding, ICT and Literacy
CCP's - Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia, Sustainability (Community)