Ukiyo-e is the Japanese word for woodblock prints which have been strongly influenced by the China’s culture. At first it was an art solely meant to be distributed within the country but in 1853 upon the arrival of the Black Ships spearheaded by Commodore Matthew Perry, Japanese culture was diffused into the Western nations and aside from katana, Japanese woodblock prints became highly popular amongst artists in Europe and in the United States. To honor this, the Library of Congress’ prized collections of Japanese woodblock prints made by Hokusai and Hiroshige creates a strong link between the East and West; showing that in terms of art, any nationality can appreciate the artwork. Hokusai and Hiroshige are only two of the Japanese masters featured in the exhibition whose specialty was landscape printing. The art of woodblock printing or ukiyo-e began in Edo, the Eastern capital of Japan, now called Tokyo from 1615-1868. Originally meant as a political response to the strict social hierarchy imposed by the Tokugawa Shogunate; soon art dealers used this to stabilize their position in the society by earning the respects of the government officials through art. Ukiyo-e was highly regarded and artists emerged in Edo and created beautiful works (LOC, The Floating World of Ukiyo-e). Katsushika Hokusai was known for his Night Rain on Karasaki Pine (c.1800-1802) with its monochromatic colors. Meanwhile, Hiroshige also a landscape painter used the same style as Hokusai. His colors were more focused on pastels to the darker ones such as blues, green, black, and brown. Both artists represent the typical Japanese ukiyo-e at that time; their works delicately executed with thin to minimal brushstrokes with a greater chiaroscuro between dark and light pigments. In Hokusai’s work, he showed great skill in painting, his bold usage of dark heavy lines makes his artworks appear unrealistic and almost comical. In Hiroshige’s work he also relied heavily in expressing his painting using heavy bold lines especially in the Great Bridge at Senju (c.1856). But it was Tanaka Oseki’s Fields of Musashino (c.1894) that caught my attention. What I love about Oseki’s ukiyo-e is its similarity to Ogata Korin’s silk scroll paintings; Oseki did not used subtle shadings or variations of color tones; he only used two contrasting colors of light and dark but never mixing other color just like in the Western style. Therefore, Oseki’s artwork seemed more solid, elegant, and simple. Learning the art styles of the past is important to history because it gives us the connection to learn the cultures and traditions of the past. Although I like Hokusai and Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e, I do not like to own them at all. Instead, I want to own Oseki’s lovely paintings so that I can display them inside the living room especially during meditation and yoga exercises because there is an atmosphere of relaxation and quiet elegance in his work; things that I do not find in Hokusai and Hiroshige’s paintings. I think learning is an important part of museum experience because it gives you the knowledge to appreciate the work done by the skilled masters. I learned mostly by looking closely at the paintings and the descriptions from the website helped me a lot in knowing them all. The website’s text was concise and sets my expectation of what artworks I will be seeing in their exhibit. The distribution of information can be improved by putting links near the pictures or the artist profiles so that students can download the whole collection through PDF files.
WORKS CITED
Katsushika Hokusai. Night Rain on Karasaki Pine. 1800-1802. Woodblock print. Web. Library of Congress. 14 Mar. 2016.
Library of Congress. “The Floating World of Ukiyo-e: Shadows, Dreams, and Substance.” N.d. Web. Library of Congress Exhibitions. 14 Mar. 2016.
Tanaka Oseki. Fields of Musashino. 1894. Woodblock print. Web. Library of Congress. 14 Mar. 2016.
Utagawa Hiroshige. Great Bridge at Senju. 1856. Woodblock print. Web. Library of Congress. 14 Mar. 2016.
