Japanese Art in 1800s

THE EDO PERIOD (1615 - 1868)

From Utamaro’s artworks, one can observe that he did not paint the women in her real natural physiognomy.
The figures were portrayed to appear tall and slender.
The head is twice longer than broader.
Her nose is extremely long and the eyes and mouth are depicted as tiny little slits.
They also appear to have long necks and small shoulders.
The typical physiognomy of a Japanese woman of the late eighteenth century was certainly far different from the designs of Utamaro.

The subject matter of the highly popular ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints were mainly focused on enthralling images of seductive women, extravagant kabuki actors and well – known romantic sceneries from the ‘pleasure – district’.
During the Edo period the work ukiyo saw a transformation. It no longer depicted the Buddhist idea of the eternal nature of life.
Ukiyo-e represents the final phase in the long evolution of Japanese genre painting.
The most popular subjects of the Ukiyo – e paintings in the early seventeenth century were scenes of “merry-making” at houses of pleasure, especially in the notorious Yoshiwara district.
These pictures were made in great quantity and featured popular scenes that appealed in particular to the wealthy townspeople of the Edo period.
Hence the pictures were made more accessible to a mass audience in the form of inexpensive woodblock prints.
The method of reproducing artwork or texts by woodblock printing was known in Japan as early as the eighth century.
Until the eighteenth century, however, woodblock printing remained primarily a convenient way of reproducing written texts.
What ukiyo-e printmakers of the Edo period achieved was the innovative use of a centuries-old technique.

Lovers in Art