The art of Ukiyo-e

            Ukiyo-e or “picture of the floating world” is one of the Japanese arts, using wood block print technique. The meaning of ‘the floating world’ refers to one momentary in the world that rapidly changes all the time. It introduces ‘the world of pleasure’ that means to free human from all responsibility and duty in everyday life.  According to Art Institutive Chicago (n.d.), “…living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maples, singing songs, drinking wine, and diverting ourselves just in floating, floating, caring not a whit for the poverty staring us in the face…”

Ukiyo-e was emerged during Edo period (1603–1867). Ukiyo-e first appeared in black ink, and becoming color- ink in 1760s. Ukiyo-e mostly focused on scene of Edo, actors from Kabuki, famous courtesans, gorgeous women, traveling, and sometimes erotica (Meggs & Purvis, n.d.). While the Japanese art, Ukiyo-e, was influencing western arts, western arts also influenced Japanese arts, which became the light for Ukiyo-e in that time because even if there were tons of Ukiyo-e painting about women and kabuki, the depictions of countryside and peasants were completely ignored. In other word, landscape styles were hardly seen in Ukiyo-e. Because of that, Japanese artists started to adapt landscape techniques from western countries in their works.

                             

One of them, Katsushika Hokusai, is the one who can adapt those techniques effectively. Hokusai has an enormous impact on landscape paint all over the world. After compromising what he has derived from Dutch and French such as perspective, shading and realistic shadows, he has created the world well known masterpiece called ‘The breaking Wave Off Kanagawa’ or widely known as ‘The Great Wave’.

The Great Wave at Kanagawa (from a Series of Thirty–Six Views of Mount Fuji), Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1831–33

Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849); Published by Eijudo

For ‘the Great Wave’ feature, there are huge waves curling over the three tiny fisher boats, and, in the background far away, there is Mount Fuji with the snow at the top. In the masterpiece, Hokusai pulls out the brutality of nature, and emphasizes the idea by shape, form, color and composition. Only four flat colors are mainly used in the picture; dark blue, blue, white and yellow tone. The first thing that catches eyesight is huge waves sweeping all sailor and their boats together. The curved lines of waves lead the audience to Mt.Fuji at the background.

'Beauties Admiring Pictures' Katsushika Hokusai (1726-92)

            The color and texture of this piece inspire my work. Hokusai pays attention to precision and detail of clothes. The important issue is the flattening of surfaces and the use od color fields. The clothes contain luxuriously textured and detail. All women’s clothes are vivid and stand out from desaturated background. However, overall mood and tone still go well together.

References

Departmental gallery exhibition. (n.d.). The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved from http://www.artic.edu/aic/resources/resource/1438

Meggs, P. B., & Purvis, A. W. (2011). Meggs’ history of graphic design (5th edition.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from https://www.inkling.com/read/

“The great wave off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai, or the pathos of things in Japanese aesthetics. (2012, January 31). Retrieved from http://louviq.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/