23 Facts About Ukiyo-e

Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries.

Ukiyo-e was central to forming the West's perception of Japanese art in the late 19th century, particularly the landscapes of Hokusai and Hiroshige.

Ukiyo-e consolidated his government in the village of Edo, and required the territorial lords to assemble there in alternate years with their entourages.

Ukiyo-e was a prolific illustrator who worked in a wide variety of genres, and developed an influential style of portraying female beauties.

Ukiyo-e established a shop in 1707 and combined elements of the leading contemporary schools in a wide array of genres, though Masanobu himself belonged to no school.

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Ukiyo-e reached a peak in the late 18th century with the advent of full-colour prints, developed after Edo returned to prosperity under Tanuma Okitsugu following a long depression.

Ukiyo-e's works dispensed with the poetic dreamscapes made by Harunobu, opting instead for realistic depictions of idealized female forms dressed in the latest fashions and posed in scenic locations.

Ukiyo-e produced portraits of kabuki actors in a realistic style that included accompanying musicians and chorus.

Ukiyo-e brought a refined sense to his portraits of graceful, slender courtesans, and left behind a number of noted students.

Ukiyo-e's work is marked by a lack of the sentimentality common to ukiyo-e, and a focus on formalism influenced by Western art.

Ukiyo-e was adept at landscapes and satirical scenes—the latter an area rarely explored in the dictatorial atmosphere of the Edo period; that Kuniyoshia could dare tackle such subjects was a sign of the weakening of the shogunate at the time.

Ukiyo-e specialized in pictures of birds and flowers, and serene landscapes, and is best known for his travel series, such as The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaido, the latter a cooperative effort with Eisen.

Ukiyo-e's work was more realistic, subtly coloured, and atmospheric than Hokusai's; nature and the seasons were key elements: mist, rain, snow, and moonlight were prominent parts of his compositions.

Ukiyo-e prints were amongst the items he brought back to the United States.

Ukiyo-e signed much of this work with his initials in a circle, imitating the seals on Japanese prints.

Ukiyo-e prints grew out of book illustration—many of Moronobu's earliest single-page prints were originally pages from books he had illustrated.

Ukiyo-e prints were the works of teams of artisans in several workshops; it was rare for designers to cut their own woodblocks.

Ukiyo-e prints were impressed on hand-made paper manually, rather than by mechanical press as in the West.

Ukiyo-e print was a commercial art form, and the publisher played an important role.

Ukiyo-e scholarship has tended to focus on the cataloguing of artists, an approach that lacks the rigour and originality that has come to be applied to art analysis in other areas.

Ukiyo-e was largely associated with Edo, and visitors to Edo often bought what they called as souvenirs.

Ukiyo-e prints were mass-produced, collecting them presents considerations different from the collecting of paintings.

Ukiyo-e artists are referred to in the Japanese style, the surname preceding the personal name, and well-known artists such as Utamaro and Hokusai by personal name alone.