Book review:

A fantastic jumping in point for appreciating Japanese woodblock prints. Besides covering some prominent artists it also features a photographic guide to the multi step process of drawing, carving and printing.

Traditional Japanese woodblock prints are instantly evocative of an otherworldly, bygone era. They first appeared in the late 1600s and their advent brought affordable, production art to the masses which continued for some two and half centuries. They captured scenes that were popular with the citizens of the day such as natural landscapes, kabuki actors, courtesans, samurai battles, duelling sumo wrestlers and just episodes from regular working life. Although some of these scenes were commonplace for the audience, these egalitarian artworks depict an everyday that is now distant. Their legacy is that many woodblock images are now indelibly associated with Japan.

Serving as a launching point into the world of ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock prints, this book offers a seminal look into the venerable art form. There are only three sections and this serves to present readers with a tightly focused platform from which to begin appreciating the art. The first section highlights six artists whose names are deeply connected with ukiyo-e: Harunobu, Utamaro, Sharaku, Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi. The middle section discusses the different motifs and the sub-genres found across different works. The final section details the multi-stage and multi-disciplinary process behind the mass production of prints.

 This book strikes a comfortable balance between physical size, depth of content and ease of reading. It is relatively thin and easy to carry, the pages are Japanese B5 sized which is not quite A4 but still makes for a large enough visual canvas. As to be expected, it abounds with illustrations which can be as brilliantly vivid or as austere and subdued as per the reproduction. It was produced by the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Shibuya, Tokyo. All text is bilingual in English and Japanese and passages of the two scripts are positioned closely together. Japanese script is horizontally arranged. 

Shelf: 721.8 HIN ENG/JPN
Yōkoso ukiyoe no sekai e = An Introduction to Ukiyo-e, in English and Japanese.
supervised by Ōta Kinen Bijutsukan kanshū ; commentary by Hinohara Kenji.
Tōkyō : Tōkyō Bijutsu, 2015.
127 pages : colour illustrations ; 26 cm.
Parallel text in Japanese and English.
ISBN: 978-4-8087-1044-6

6review 2018 02, new 2018 02, jcentral, review, bilingual books, ukiyoe, ukiyo-e, woodblock print, woodblock, Floating World, edo period, visual art, japanese art,