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 The
Japanese Woodblock Print is an art form, which highlights
flowing, curved outlines, simplistic forms as well as the
detailing of flat areas containing color.
This form of art has not only existed for a long time
in Asian history, but it has also deeply impacted artists in
both Europe and North America throughout the 19th
century.
Woodblock
printing was first used in Japan in the 8th century to print
religious texts. Buddhists traveling from China brought these
texts, as well as the printing method itself, to Japan.
These first
prints were made in a single color using only Sumi ink. The
world would have to wait nearly 900 years for the first
colored prints to appear. Early color prints were made using a
single block and black ink.
The colors were hand painted by workers in the print shops. It
was only when the popularity of these prints exceeded the
production capacity of the workshops that the true woodblock
print evolved.
To meet the
rising demand, the printers employed master carvers to make
individual blocks for each of the colors in the print. Many of
the finer woodblock prints contained 15 or more colors,
requiring 15 different expertly carved wooden print blocks.
Each of these blocks had to be carved with great precision to
ensure that the colored sections met perfectly.
Earliest
among these images were private calendars that were printed
without first by Suzuku Hornbook (1725-1770), and later with
other various artists. One
of the most famous of Suzuku Hornbook’s print was the image
"The Køya Jewel River”.
Beginning
in the mid-1760s, the newly discovered color prints were sold
commercially; their depictions included themes that were both
classical as well as contemporary; these themes included
literary scenes, the lives of celebrities, women of beauty,
travel scenes, erotic scenes, as well as actors in their
different dramatic roles.
During
the 19th century, some of the most exhibited and
represented artists of Japanese Woodblock Prints are Utagawa
Toyokuni I (1769-1825), Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), Utamaro
Kitagawa (1750-1806), and
Andø Hiroshige (1797-1858).
The
techniques that were used were varied, but were absolutely
critical to the final print.
While working, the artist is required to keep a very
specific goal in mind while creating the blocks.
This mindset should be in line with the Japanese
tradition of demonstrating the precise direction of the brush
that would be painting the picture, so that the features of
the original piece, as well as the written characters, are not
in any way destroyed. So
from the artist’s point of view, the direction of the knife
should match identically the direction of the brush, which
initially inscribed the picture.
This being said, it is easy to understand that it takes
an extremely skilled hand to replicate the unique and exact
features captured in the originals, while simultaneously
demonstrating the artist’s own skill and character.
The
wood that is used for Japanese Woodblock Prints is selected
very carefully. The
woods considered include only very specific types of trees,
and only certain textures of wood within those different
species. No
matter what, the texture of the wood must be extremely fine
and very hard.
The
differences between old and modern methods of Japanese
woodcutting are as follows: the method of cutting on wood - as
the ancient woodcuts is deeper than the ones that are made
today. However, though more shallow, the present day pieces
allow for much greater detail.
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