Japanese Colour-Prints and Their Designers

Japanese Colour-Prints and Their Designers

The leading masters of the Ukiyo school were a group of very great artists. The names of Kiyonaga, Harunobu, Okumura Masanobu, Utamaro, Hokusai, and Hiroshige belong in the category of those whose fame is world-wide. The finest of the colour-prints designed by these men and their fellow-artists are masterpieces of rare distinction. This does not mean that all of their works should be so classed. The method by which the prints were produced enabled the artists to turn them out rapidly, and many were made that were trivial in character. They served almost as many purposes in their time as engravings, etchings, lithographs, and the photographic process reproductions do with us to-day. Naturally they varied widely in merit and in quality. Many have been preserved, but the important prints by the greater artists are unfortunately very rare; few of them have survived the vicissitudes of time, and fewer still in good condition. The inception of the Ukiyo school dates back to the early years of the seventeenth century, when a painter named Iwasa Matahei, departing from the traditional subjects of the painters of the classic schools, made pictures of dancing-girls and scenes of every-day life. The first prints were made about 1660 by Hishikawa Moronobu and were in simple black outline. They were sometimes coloured by hand with a few touches of colour roughly laid on, probably by the publisher's assistants. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 42811
Author: Gookin, Frederick W.
Release Date: May 25, 2013
Format: eBook
Language: English