Ukiyo-e School

Japanese, 1603-1867

BiographyThe ukiyo-e , "pictures of the floating world") or ukiyo-ye genre of art flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica.

The word ukiyo refers to the world of common people and e means "picture." Thus when ukiyo-e first emerged in the late sixteenth century, it usually depicted everyday life in the city of Kyoto. It wasn't until the eighteenth century that ukiyo-e became a popular art form, though, thanks partly to advances in woodblock printing techniques. At first ukiyo-e weren't prints but paintings made with sumi(black ink); later on, color was added, and as the number of colors increased and the paintings became more complicated, the woodblock printing technique was developed to mass-produce prints of the same design. Only a few colors were used in the early prints, but as the technique improved, ukiyo-e became more colorful and refined.

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