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| Sharaku's Actor Ōtani Oniji III as the Manservant Edohei. Arguably his most famous work. [1] |
Today was the last day of the Sharaku exhibit at Tokyo National Museum Heiseikan. The art teacher at school informed me about the exhibition and recommended that I go. After looking into the exhibit, I agreed that it was a must-see and we made sure to fit it into our schedule and go before it closed. The importance of the exhibit was two-fold. Not only is Sharaku one of the most famous ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artists making the exhibit worthwhile, but the completeness of the exhibit for a major artist is what really made the exhibit unmissable. There are only thought to be 146 works of Sharaku still existing, and this exhibit brought together over 140 of them. [2] In fact, at the show, the exhibit said only 4 were missing from the complete works of Sharaku. His works were brought together from private and public collections from around the world and such an exhibit might not happen again. This time I'm going to talk about the art of ukiyo-e before I get into Sharaku's life and work and the exhibit itself in my next post.
Ukiyo-e as I'm sure all of you know is the famous Japanese woodblock prints made during the Edo Period and beyond. Some of the most famous of these artists around the world being Hiroshige and Hokusai; their works depicting landscapes and scenes from daily life during that time in Japan. Not only are these works famous in themselves, but helped to inspire some of the most famous impressionists and their works when they were discovered in Europe.
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| Hokusai's The Great Wave at Kanagawa (from a Series of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji). I'm sure this famous ukiyo-e print looks familiar for example. [3] |
Woodblock printing was in use in Japan long before the art of ukiyo-e had developed. Woodblock printing was already in use at least by the 8th century for producing texts, specifically Buddhist scriptures. They also were used to print designs on paper and silk in the 17th century, but until the 18th century were used mainly to mass produce texts. [4] Even the first illustrated Japanese books didn't appear until sometime around 1650 when traditional tales began to be produced. The illustrations in these books increased in quality as the books became more popular and soon the books were being purchased for the artwork in them as much, or in some cases more so than the written text. [5] By 1660, Hishikawa Moronobu, an illustrator working in Edo convinced his publisher to print single sheet illustrations which then became widely sold and started the ukiyo-e movement. [6] These prints became the first widely available art in Japan.
The question being is why did it take so long to go from the creation of woodblock printing to its use in ukiyo-e and the mass-popularity of its art. The main reason is societal and economic conditions were not ready for this kind of populist art development until this period. Japan itself would not become fully unified as a country until unification was completed by Iyeasu Tokugawa with victory at the Battle of Sekigahara on October 21st, 1600, officially by being given the title of Shōgun by the Emperor in 1603 and completed with victory at the Battle of Tennoji in 1615. Before this point, Japan was a fractured place with a large number of clans and a history of violence between these clans, as well as violence between the Emperors and strong generals over power in Japan in previous eras. The Sengoku Period (Warring States Period, 1467-1600) right before unification was a time of Japan's greatest fragmentation and conflict as Japan was in a civil war when many Daimyō, or local clan lords rose to power and fought against each other for more power. With constant war throughout the country and people stuck inside the land of their clan, there wasn't the stability, freedom or economic conditions that would be required for the creation and selling of populist art.
With the unification of Japan and future reforms by the Tokugawa Shogunate after 1600, conditions were finally present for the making and selling of art within Japan. With the country unified by Tokugawa, it created stability and peace in Japan for over 250 years. These conditions allowed for the emergence of arts as finances no longer needed to be funneled into military and defense. The ruling samurai class started to pay for art and craftsmanship with decorations for their castles, sliding doors, ceilings, wood panels, new fancy clothes and other goods to show off and take advantage of their high status no longer encumbered with funding for defense and wars. [7] While the samurai class started to again be patrons of the arts, it would be the economic rise of the lowest social class in Edo Era society that would create the conditions for the birth of the ukiyo-e movement.
The Tokugawa Shogunate made a new societal structure that lasted until the end of the Edo Era based on 4 classes. The samurai class was on top followed by farmers, artisans and at the bottom, the merchant class. While the merchant class was the lowest class in society, many in the class would acquire new wealth during this period. These merchants would become wealthy from the expansion of cities and commerce that occurred during this time. Becoming wealthy, but lacking social mobility being at the bottom of society, the merchant class used their money in acquiring items to show their status. [8] This collection of items and decorations would be separate from the high culture and art of the upper samurai class and instead be the creation of a new populist culture. Some of the first cultural expressions from this new merchant class led culture were paintings of courtesans, Kabuki that also started around this time and the illustrated books that I explained before. [9] The merchant class being newly enriched and their desire for a new, more populist culture and art set up the conditions for the introduction of ukiyo-e. They were the logical progression from the illustrated story-books that were popular and collected starting in the early Edo Era.
One last invention in the printing process was needed before the popularity of ukiyo-e could be fully realized. Hishikawa Moronobu's first works in ukiyo-e art in the 1660s would have been different than the prints were during its main and late periods. These early prints and the illustrations in books at this time were either black and white, printed black and white and then painted by hand or printed with only a few colors. It wouldn't be until 1765 that the technology would be available to print polychromatic on the same sheet of paper. These nishiki-e (錦絵), or "brocade picture" were first used for calendars commissioned by a group of wealthy patrons in Edo for a New Year custom of exchanging calendars. [10] These and the future works of Suzuki Harunobu would make him the most popular artist in Edo until his death 6 years after first using the new technique in ukiyo-e art. [11]
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| Suzuki Harunobu's Autumn Moon in the Mirror (from the series Eight Views of the Parlor). A famous series of his using the polychromatic printing. [12] |
Suzuki Harunobu's technique became the basic technique used in ukiyo-e art. It would be the main popular art form in Japan until the 1860s when Japan would politically and socially destabilize leading up to the Meiji Revolution in 1868. The Meiji Emperor's rise to power and the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate saw another series of wide social reforms specifically focused on modernization. Ukiyo-e became a casualty of this modernization effort. [13]
Ukiyo-e (浮世絵) means 'pictures of the floating world,' but this is an evolution of the original word. The original word of Ukiyo-e used this kanji, 憂世絵. Notice the first character is different between the two, 憂 compared to 浮 now. Both kanji are read as uki, but have different meanings. The original ukiyo-e, 憂世絵 means 'pictures of the sad world' or pictures of the transient world.' This is the Buddhist idea of the transient nature of life. This concept obviously didn't match the subject matter of ukiyo-e art at the time, being of courtesans, kabuki actors and scenes from the pleasure districts popular at the time. So the first kanji of uki 憂 was changed to the homonym 浮, which was a better fit. 浮 means to float, so the word now means 'pictures of the floating world' matching the subject matter of its art better. [14]
Ukiyo-e has become the most famous art of Japan worldwide and the reason for that is two-fold. The first being ukiyo-e's impact around the world, started by the impressionists finding them and inspiring their work. This discovery spurred a Japonism in the art world separate from the Orientalism that already existed which has influenced western art ever since. The more important aspect for ukiyo-e's fame is its subject matter. Ukiyo-e depicted scenes of the city, pleasure districts, entertainment and landscapes of the time. In that way, ukiyo-e has become a visual record of Edo Era and traditional Japan. After the Edo Era, Japan modernized and westernized to some extent during this modernization, so the Edo era would be the last time Japan would be the Japan of old and the traditional. The ukiyo-e would thus be the main visual reminders of this traditional Japan as photography would not come to Japan until late in the Edo Era. Ukiyo-e are famous and popular in Japan as well as around the world for this showing of traditional Japan.
One other thing to remember about ukiyo-e art is the artists that are credited with the work are often only 1 of the people that create these works. Usually each print is the work of 4 people. Each print needs the work of a designer, engraver, printer and publisher. [15] The artist typically credited with the work when being discussed is only the designer of the piece. However, the publisher decided the themes and judged the quality of the design before it was given to the engraver and printer for production. [16] So while currently only the designer is given credit for the works, there were typically 4 people involved in the process of making the art and not just the artist credited with the work.
This is the basic background for the art of ukiyo-e and the conditions at the time that allowed and shaped the emergence of this work. Hopefully this provides the context that makes it easier to understand the works of Sharaku and the exhibit, which I'll discuss next time.
References:
1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Toshusai Sharaku: Otani Oniji II (JP2822)," Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/JP2822.
2. Kumi Matsumaru, "The many faces of Sharaku," Daily Yomiuri Online, May 20, 2011, http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/T110519003574.htm (accessed January 21, 2012).
3.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Katsushika Hokusai: The Great Wave at Kanagawa (from a Series of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji) (JP1847)," Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/JP1847.
4. Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style," Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ukiy/hd_ukiy.htm.
5. "Ukiyo-e History," Tokugawa Gallery.
http://tokugawagallery.com/history.html.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Art of the Pleasure Quarters and the Ukiyo-e Style," Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/plea/hd_plea.htm.
9. "Ukiyo-e History," Tokugawa Gallery.
10. Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style."
11. John Fiorillo, "Suzuki Harunobu (c. 1725-1770)," Viewing Japanese Prints.
http://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/ukiyoetexts/ukiyoe_pages/harunobu3.html.
12. "Autumn Moon in the Mirror," Mokuhankan Catalogue.
http://mokuhankan.com/catalogue/T007.html.
13. Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Art of the Pleasure Quarters and the Ukiyo-e Style."
14. Ibid.
15. Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style."
16. Ibid.
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