Research Paper On Ukiyo-E
The beautiful and richly coloured Japanese wood-block prints represent the art Ukiyo-e , first developed in the seventeenth-century.
The term ukiyo-e means as 'pictures of the floating world'
Ukiyo-e is produced by woodblock prints and paintings of female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history, landscapes and folk tales.
Image Image Image Image Image Image
It wasn't until the eighteenth century that ukiyo-e became a popular art form, mostly to developments in woodblock printing techniques. Also, subjects like kabuki actors and beautiful women came to be more represented, and books carrying illustrations by young ukiyo-e artists were widely accessible. These factors helped ukiyo-e become a part of Japan's popular
culture.
The earliest prints were simple sumi (black ink), taken from a single block. These were sometimes then painted by hand to add colour. as the number of colours increased and the paintings became more complicated, the woodblock printing technique developed. Only a few colours were used in the early prints, but as the technique improved, ukiyo-e became more colourful and refined, known as Nishiki-e or brocade prints.
Making woodblock prints was a three-stage process;
1 painting a design with ink,
2 carving the design onto wooden blocks, and
3 applying coloured ink to the blocks and pressing sheets of paper on them to print the design. There were specialists for each of these stages, and the entire process took a lot of work, but once the blocks were completed, it became much easier than before to make reproductions of the same design. The mass production of these prints were widely circulated and developed Ukiyo-e into a popular art.
At the end of the 19th century, when the boarders were opened, the prints started circulating internationally. The Ukiyo-e techniques were new to European artist and had a great influence on impressionist painters such as Van Gogh and Claude Monet.
The term ukiyo-e means as 'pictures of the floating world'
Ukiyo-e is produced by woodblock prints and paintings of female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history, landscapes and folk tales.
Image Image Image Image Image Image
It wasn't until the eighteenth century that ukiyo-e became a popular art form, mostly to developments in woodblock printing techniques. Also, subjects like kabuki actors and beautiful women came to be more represented, and books carrying illustrations by young ukiyo-e artists were widely accessible. These factors helped ukiyo-e become a part of Japan's popular
culture.
The earliest prints were simple sumi (black ink), taken from a single block. These were sometimes then painted by hand to add colour. as the number of colours increased and the paintings became more complicated, the woodblock printing technique developed. Only a few colours were used in the early prints, but as the technique improved, ukiyo-e became more colourful and refined, known as Nishiki-e or brocade prints.
Making woodblock prints was a three-stage process;
1 painting a design with ink,
2 carving the design onto wooden blocks, and
3 applying coloured ink to the blocks and pressing sheets of paper on them to print the design. There were specialists for each of these stages, and the entire process took a lot of work, but once the blocks were completed, it became much easier than before to make reproductions of the same design. The mass production of these prints were widely circulated and developed Ukiyo-e into a popular art.
At the end of the 19th century, when the boarders were opened, the prints started circulating internationally. The Ukiyo-e techniques were new to European artist and had a great influence on impressionist painters such as Van Gogh and Claude Monet.