Floating World of Ukiyo-E: Shadows, Dreams and Substance

by Sandy Kita, James Douglas Farquhar, Lawrence E. Marceau

Filled with brillient colors and breathtakingly beautiful scenes from seventeenth-century Japan, this celebration of the the great Japanese art of woodblock prints introduces readers to the "floating world" of medieval Japan.

Genres: Art, Japan

232 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Lissa Notreallywolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

My debut in doing some artistic research, a resolution for this year. I am fascinated by woodcuts, and I have always been entranced by the Japanese images I have learned to call Ukiyo-E. I am also very curious about Japanese automatia, Japanese influences on Western art, especially printmaking, in the 16th-20th centuries. Having explained why I plucked this volume from the Asian branch of the library, I must also state how interesting it was to be in a branch library where I was a functional illiterate. No worries the text of this book is in English, and it gives a pretty good introduction to the term Ukiyo-E, translating to The Floating World. I thought this was because the prints tend to arrest time, like the famous wave, or the (even better) swirl of the whirlpool. Turns out the most common images seen on T shirls, murals, mugs and computer cases are the least representative of the actual meaning of Floating World, which was the theatre and brothel district of Edo. Thereby producing numerous prints associated with lovely women and the theatre. And equally important is the significance of the woodcut print-it was designed to sell not to s specific patron or group of patrons, but rather a means of having numerous copies that could be sold to the moneyed public. The artist is now the merchant artist and independent of the Shogun ruling class. The district itself represented the place where artisans, artists and merchants, the lower classes were allowed fancy dress, and to vent otherwise regulated expression. In short the prints form resistence art, aluding the epheral moments of fame, fortune and drama, beauty in the floating world. And somehow this transcends the district and moves on to great natural events. My two favorite pages are 123, 124 which contained the images I loved the best. One is a theatre triptych with three actors in animal costumes dancing with three actors holding interesting objects. The tiger I love beyond measure, as I love the woman reading a letter. That theme seems to be common, the letter and a woman repeats, leaving one to wonder if there is a feminist subcurrent here too. The next page is a print of a bowl that conveys such love and peace, and somehow reminds me of Durer's rabbit. I will persist in these reflections, my next target being theatre associated with the Edo period.

[Pixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I just wanted to see pictures of art by Hiroshige and Hokusai. I'm sure the scholarship was great, but too dry for me.