Showdown ! Kuniyoshi V. Kunisada

Ukiyo-e is the name given to one of the most important art forms in all of Japan. Arriving as a new form of art in the 1700's these prints served as a record of daily life and pleasures in a newly wealthy Japanese society. The Japanese themselves had long regarded pleasure as transient because of their Buddhist heratige, because of this the word Ukiyo-e actually means "pictures of the floating world". These prints were truly art which reflected the whims of the masses. They record popular styles of dress, new hairstyles etc. They also record the popular Kabuki theater actors, the most beautiful geisha's (or prostitutes), and later even landscapes. Within the realm of Ukiyo-e there are many masters, but there is one master,

Utagawa Kuniyoshi born 1797 was one of the last great masters of the japanese ukiyo-e style woodblock prints and painting.

The room is cover with black and white photos of the 1930s and 1940s. The lighting of the room felt appropriate to the setting. The photos were place inches away from other photos on the wall. The painting of the wall, which it was gray and baby blue, made the photo have a serious tone to the exhibition. The entrance of the Manzanar exhibit starts off showing the beginning of Japanese immigrating to America. Walking down there a section that shows news articles with hand drawn images of Japanese Imperialism. These drawings were racist and it feud controversy. The rest of the exhibit is photos of Japanese Americans living in internment camps, or suffering prejudge from the public. The best part of the exhibit is the backroom, in which its shows the photos of Ansel Adams. Adams was a popular photographer and he was exposing the condition of the internment camps. People critizes Adams for being a “Japs lover”. This destroy his reputation of being a professional photographer, but his work is later recognize and accepted by in the American Public. One photo that caught my attention was a photo taken by Dorothea

The word ukiyo stemmed from Buddhist origins meaning floating world. It was used to describe the impermanence of the human world, and the belief that all thing are short lived. During the Edo period (1600-1868) the word ukiyo changed, the fleeting nature of life was to be enjoyed to the fullest because of it ephemeral nature. The word became synonymous with the pleasure and theater districts of Edo that were constantly changing. Ukiyo-e literally translates floating world pictures. Woodblock prints are the most representative art form of ukiyo-e and the Edo period.

An exhibition never fails in taking the spectator on a journey through the chosen art’s narrative. The vast selection of exhibitions that were available at the National Gallery of Art made it difficult to narrow down the preferred choices. While examining the exhibition list one word seemed to capture my attention. Urban. I had the privilege to be born in a foreign city and to grow up in yet another city. This perspective colored my gallery selection and placed emphasis on the word “Urban.” Located in the West Wing of the Natural Gallery of Art, “Urban Scene 1920-1950” is an exhibition that reveals the four century-old artistic interpretation of the dynamic life that comes with residing in a city. Part of the beauty of the exhibition is the incorporation of less recognized American artists that worked on various printmaking techniques to create these astonishing achievements. The installation utilized minimalistic styles that introduced the viewer to various cities in the US. During the

Thomas Merton once said "Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time". This is completely true. Throughout the semester we have gone through almost as many as 300 pictures we view, learn, decompose into the criteria it meets and talk about the controversial things it has, while we do this we don't recognize that we also identify the form, content, iconography, and context. All four areas are what the paint, picture or sculptures identity is. I was lucky enough to visit my buddy out at WIU. There are many works in the art gallery, around the union and even outside walking around, but one that did catch my attention and had me thinking about it for quite some time. It was a painting called Memorialized by Tyanna Buie, was made in 2011 and measures 38’’x50’’. The content it has is beautiful, the form is wicked, context is superb and iconography is permanent. It reminds me of artwork we've gone through the semester. The painting was being showed at the art gallery in end of March. It’s now May and I can still picture it in my head so detailed, without even looking at a picture of it. It’s a piece of work I have connected to, yet lost myself in.

(FIG.4) The proposed building was a space-frame construction that was common to their works of the period. What was notable about the Milbank project was that the Smithsons created a series of drawings that looked like Japanese scrolls for the competition. The building was presented, with its structural elements exposed, in an isometric view - an apparent reference to “oriental” paintings. There was no furniture or interior fitting in the illustrations; instead one could only find scattered Japanese figures dressed in traditional Kimono along the scroll. Not unlike in their New Brutalism article, the Smithsons took pride in their superficial understanding of Japanese culture: they declared that the ancient Japanese figures were cut out from a postcard from the Victoria and Albert Museum. In the description of the project, the Smithsons made reference again to the idea of

The name of the art form, ukiyo-e, translates to “paintings of the floating world”. They are Japanese woodblock prints that flourished during the Edo Period (1603 - 1867) and depicted subjects associated with impermanence and detachment from ordinary life. Among these subjects were the popular geisha, sumo, and kabuki actors set in this after-hours world. Later, painted scenes from nature became a subject matter for artists.

ukiyo-e landscape print style of the Edo period. At the forefront of the image is a pale woman, in

Ukiyo-e significantly influenced contemporary Japanese prints (kindai hanga). Such an impact can be directly observed when comparing the Nakamura Utaemon as Tonase contemporary print (1984) by Tsuruya Kokei with Toshusai Sharaku’s Segawa Tomisaburo as Yadorigi ukiyo-e (1794-1795). Both of these prints can be categorized as okubi-e, which are Japanese woodblock prints that feature up-close portraits of their subjects by concentrating on the face and upper torso. They also depict a famous kabuki actor as the character that he is well known for playing. Other than having a similar subject matter and an identical portrayal of it, the simple, plain background, bright colors, and sense of flatness generally found in ukiyo-e are employed in Kokei’s

My trip to the MoMA was interesting and enlightening, mainly because I’d never been to the museum, so I thoroughly enjoyed the exposure to the art world. Looking at historic and iconic works such as those of Van Gogh and other famous artists was a unique experience that truly opened my eyes to certain aspects of artwork. I found it especially interesting to look at how art through time can share thematic or formal similarities, showcasing how modern artists use the past to influence their work today. Looking at Stephen Shore’s work as well as comparing the modern art with certain classic works was truly an eye-opening experience, which I hope to reflect through the artworks that I chose for each diptych.

In general terms, shin hanga (new prints) can be described as the modern adaptation of ukiyo-e (woodblock prints). As an art movement of the early twentieth century, it had managed to revive traditional ukiyo-e art from the Edo and Meiji periods. Shin hanga thus shares many similar characteristics with ukiyo-e. One of these features is the process of creating them. Both shin hanga and ukiyo-e have a collaborative system where the artist, carver, and printer participate in a division of labor. Another common aspect between the two types of prints is the subject matter. Traditional themes of ukiyo-e, such as landscapes, beautiful women, and kabuki actors, continued in shin hanga. Despite several similar elements, there are, however, significant

Lane, Richard. Images from the Floating World: The Japanese Print: Including an Illustrated Dictionary of Ukiyo-e. New York: Dorset, 1982. Print.

Art movements were brought into Japan and modified according to the cultural preferences. Prior to the Meiji era, Japanese paintings called Ukiyo-e were made by the techniques of woodblock printing, which mainly involved the development of the artists in designing, engraving, and printing their own works. Woodblock paintings were the earliest attempt to create commercial graphics to the mass audience. Katsushinka Hokusai’s work, 'Kisoji no oku Amida ga taki' (1832), is featured here as a sample of the Ukiyo-e painting.

Each artist’s respective choice to employ a certain style and to depict their landscapes in a certain way is insightful of the art movements in which they worked, though the later movement (Post-impressionist) was highly influenced by the earlier one (Ukiyo-e). Precisely, Hokusai’s print was completed in 1832 and, thus, is representative of the Japanese Ukiyo-e (translated as the “floating” or “sorrowful” world) movement, notable for its lack of perspective, clean lines and flat areas of pure color. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings usually depicting kabuki actors, female beauties, erotic scenes, or natural landscapes. Art in this movement evoked “an imagined universe of wit, stylishness, and extravagance—with overtones of naughtiness, hedonism, and transgression,” and it was considered a contrast to the boring, monotonous routines of everyday life.