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Edo-e
is a type of Japanese multi-coloured woodblock printing; the technique is used primarily in ukiyo-e. It was invented in the 1760s, and perfected and popularized by the printmaker Suzuki Harunobu, who produced many ''nishiki-e'' prints between 1765 and his death five years later. Previously, most prints had been in black-and-white, coloured by hand, or coloured with the addition of one or two colour ink blocks. A ''nishiki-e'' print is created by carving a separate woodblock for every colour, and using them in a stepwise fashion. An engraver by the name of Kinroku is credited with the technical innovations that allowed so many blocks of separate colours to fit together perfectly on the page, in order to create a single complete image. This style and technique is also known as , referring to Edo, the name for Tokyo before it became the capital. Edo Era Nishiki-e is also known as Edo-e, or azuma-nishiki-e. The technology to produce nishiki-e made printing complex colors and fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nishikie
is a type of Japanese multi-coloured woodblock printing; the technique is used primarily in ukiyo-e. It was invented in the 1760s, and perfected and popularized by the printmaker Suzuki Harunobu, who produced many ''nishiki-e'' prints between 1765 and his death five years later. Previously, most prints had been in black-and-white, coloured by hand, or coloured with the addition of one or two colour ink blocks. A ''nishiki-e'' print is created by carving a separate woodblock for every colour, and using them in a stepwise fashion. An engraver by the name of Kinroku is credited with the technical innovations that allowed so many blocks of separate colours to fit together perfectly on the page, in order to create a single complete image. This style and technique is also known as , referring to Edo, the name for Tokyo before it became the capital. Edo Era Nishiki-e is also known as Edo-e, or azuma-nishiki-e. The technology to produce nishiki-e made printing complex colors and figu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodblock Printing
Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is created by carving a wooden block to leave only some areas and lines at the original level; it is these that are inked and show in the print, in a relief printing process. Carving the blocks is skilled and laborious work, but a large number of impressions can then be printed. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220 AD. Woodblock printing existed in Tang China by the 7th century AD and remained the most common East Asian method of printing books and other texts, as well as images, until the 19th century. ''Ukiyo-e'' is the best-known type of Japanese woodblock art print. Most European uses of the technique for printing images on paper are covered by the art term woodcut, except for the bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ... of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; Flora of Japan, flora and Wildlife of Japan#Fauna, fauna; and Shunga, erotica. The term translates as "picture[s] of the floating world". In 1603, the city of Edo (Tokyo) became the seat of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate. The ''chōnin'' class (merchants, craftsmen and workers), positioned at the bottom of Four occupations, the social order, benefited the most from the city's rapid economic growth, and began to indulge in and patronise the entertainment o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suzuki Harunobu
Suzuki Harunobu ( ja, 鈴木 春信; ) was a Japanese designer of woodblock print art in the style. He was an innovator, the first to produce full-color prints () in 1765, rendering obsolete the former modes of two- and three-color prints. Harunobu used many special techniques, and depicted a wide variety of subjects, from classical poems to contemporary beauties. Like many artists of his day, Harunobu also produced a number of , or erotic images. During his lifetime and shortly afterwards, many artists imitated his style. A few, such as Harushige, even boasted of their ability to forge the work of the great master. Much about Harunobu's life is unknown. Influences Though some scholars assert that Harunobu was originally from Kyoto, pointing to possible influences from Nishikawa Sukenobu, much of his work, in particular his early work, is in the Edo style. His work shows evidence of influences from many artists, including Torii Kiyomitsu, Ishikawa Toyonobu, the Kawamata s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Mon (currency)
The was the currency of Japan from the Muromachi period in 1336 until the early Meiji period in 1870. It co-circulated with the new '' sen'' until 1891. The Kanji for ''mon'' is and the character for currency was widely used in the Chinese-character cultural sphere, e.g. Chinese wén, Korean mun, Vietnamese văn. Throughout Japanese history, there were many styles of currency of many shapes, styles, designs, sizes and materials, including gold, silver, bronze, etc. Coins denominated in mon were cast in copper or iron and circulated alongside silver and gold ingots denominated in ''shu'', ''bu'' and ''ryō'', with 4000 mon = 16 shu = 4 bu = 1 ryō. In 1869, due to depreciation against gold, the new fixing officially was set for 1 ryō/yen = 1,000 mon. The yen started to replace the old non-decimal denominations in 1870: in the 3rd quarter of 1870, the first new coins appeared, namely 5, 10, 50 sen silver and 2, 5, 10, 20 Yen. Smaller sen coins did not appear before spring, 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meiji Period
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization by Western powers to the new paradigm of a modern, industrialized nation state and emergent great power, influenced by Western scientific, technological, philosophical, political, legal, and aesthetic ideas. As a result of such wholesale adoption of radically different ideas, the changes to Japan were profound, and affected its social structure, internal politics, economy, military, and foreign relations. The period corresponded to the reign of Emperor Meiji. It was preceded by the Keiō era and was succeeded by the Taishō era, upon the accession of Emperor Taishō. The rapid modernization during the Meiji era was not without its opponents, as the rapid changes to society caused many disaffected traditionalists from the former samurai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Soper
Alexander Coburn Soper III (February 18, 1904 – January 13, 1993) was an American art historian who specialized in Asian art. He was a longtime editor of the journal ''Artibus Asiae'' and professor at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. He won the Charles Lang Freer Medal in 1990. Life and career Alexander Soper was born in Chicago on February 18, 1904. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1925 with a bachelor's degree, and from Princeton University in 1929 with a master's degree in architecture. He lived in Japan for some time, before returning to Princeton and earning a Ph.D. in art history in 1944. He taught at Bryn Mawr College, and then at the Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) for more than 30 years from 1960. After retiring from full-time teaching in the 1980s, he remained a doctoral adviser at IFA. Soper served as editor of the academic journal ''Artibus Asiae'' from 1958 until his death in 1993. His scholarship covered the breath of Asian art, ranging from Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edo-Tokyo Museum
The is a historical museum located at 1-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida, Tokyo, Sumida-Ku, Tokyo in the Ryōgoku, Ryogoku district. The museum opened in March 1993 to preserve Edo's cultural heritage, and features city models of Edo and Tokyo between 1590 (just prior to the Edo period beginning) and 1964. It was the first museum built dedicated to the history of Tokyo. Some main features of the permanent exhibitions are the life-size replica of the Nihonbashi, which was the bridge leading into Edo; scale models of towns and buildings across the Edo Meiji, and Showa periods; and the Nakamuraza theatre. Designed by Kiyonori Kikutake, the building is 62.2 meters tall and covers 30,000 square meters. The concrete exterior is designed based on a traditional rice storehouse (takayuka-shiki style) and is the same height as the Edo Castle. Kikutake claimed that the building "crystallizes Japanese culture in built form," concerning the structure's traditional references but contemporary executio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relief Printing
Relief printing is a family of printing methods where a printing block, plate or matrix, which has had ink applied to its non-recessed surface, is brought into contact with paper. The non-recessed surface will leave ink on the paper, whereas the recessed areas will not. A printing press may not be needed, as the back of the paper can be rubbed or pressed by hand with a simple tool such as a brayer or roller. In contrast, in intaglio printing, the ''recessed'' areas are printed. Relief printing is one of the traditional families of printmaking techniques, along with the intaglio and planographic families, though modern developments have created others. In the relief family of printing, the matrix was historically made subtractively, by removing material from the surface of areas not intended to be printed. The remaining surface would then receive ink. The relief family of techniques includes woodcut, metalcut, wood engraving, relief etching, linocut, rubber stamp, foam pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ukiyo-e Genres
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica. The term translates as "picture of the floating world". In 1603, the city of Edo (Tokyo) became the seat of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate. The ''chōnin'' class (merchants, craftsmen and workers), positioned at the bottom of the social order, benefited the most from the city's rapid economic growth, and began to indulge in and patronise the entertainment of kabuki theatre, geisha, and courtesans of the pleasure districts; the term ("floating world") came to describe this hedonistic lifestyle. Printed or painted ukiyo-e works were popular with the ''chōnin'' class, who had become wealthy enough to afford to decorate their homes with them. The earliest ukiyo-e works eme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
