World of Ukiyoe

Produced by the thousands during the Edo period (1615 – 1868), these colourful woodblock prints depicted scenes both fantasical and routine in old Japan.

Exploring Ukiyoe, Japan’s Floating World.

Two hundred years ago, in Edo-era Japan, an incredible style of art flourished – Ukiyoe, Pictures of the Floating World.

Great artists created bold and intricate designs of beautiful women, landscapes, kabuki actors, animals, and more. Highly skilled artisans carved those designs into wooden blocks so they could be printed thousands of times. This was popular art for the masses – for the cost of two bowls of noodles, Edo Japan’s thriving middle-class bought these woodblock prints and hung them on walls or collected them in albums. But it was not just for decoration. Woodblock prints were the multimedia of their time, used for book illustrations, celebrity portraits, advertisements, and education. Together they formed an encyclopedia of the Edo period and could almsot be compared to today's Internet.

浮世绘，一种描绘了人间百态的版画艺术，诞生且盛行于在两百多年前江户时代的日本。

画师们通过自己大胆和丰富的想象力创造了美人、风景、歌舞伎演员、动植物等各种各样的绘画题材，而技术高超的工匠们在拿到画稿后将其雕刻至木板上，便于成百上千次的印刷。

浮世绘是一种流行于大众的市井艺术。在经济繁荣的江户时代，人们只要花两碗拉面的钱就能买到一幅版画，可拿回家做装饰抑或收藏。浮世绘在当时不仅仅只是一种画，它同时还具有书籍插画、明星写真、商业广告、流行时尚和教育传播等多媒体功能，既像江户时代的百科全书又像当今的互联网。

Suzuki Harunobu (1724-1770)
Kiyohara no Motosuke

鈴木春信 (1724-1770)
清原元浦

The art was revolutionary – striking flat planes of colors, dramatic perspectives, and stunning graphics. Other subjects included mystical ghost scenes, great battles, and even erotica – Ukiyoe artists depicted it all. When Japan “opened up” to the West in the late 1800s, great painters like Vincent Van Gogh became obsessed with Ukiyoe, learning from the designs and even copying them. Their influence in the West was profound.

浮世绘也是一种革命性的艺术。其包罗万象的主题，引人注目的平面色彩，戏剧性的绘画视角以及令人惊叹的画面结构，对西方艺术产生了深远的影响。以梵高为首的印象派画家们，他们疯狂地着迷于浮世绘，甚至将它视为绘画学习的样本。

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
Musashi koganei, from the series of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

歌川広重 (1797-1858)
富士三十六景 武蔵小金井

But this art was never meant to last. Printed on delicate paper, these wonderful prints deteriorated as the decades went by. Few were carefully preserved. Now finding one in good condition is rare indeed. And that’s why their value is skyrocketing: in 2023, the most famous of all Ukiyoe prints – Katsushika Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”– sold for $2.76 million at Christie’s in New York City.

但这种艺术从来不是永恒的。这些精美的手工印刷品会随着时间的流逝而品质退化，能被完好保存下来的很少。时至今日，想找到品相非常好的浮世绘实属不易，这也是浮世绘暴涨的原因之一。2023年，葛饰北斋最出名的一幅浮世绘——“神奈川冲浪里”，在纽约佳士得甚至拍卖至276万美金的高价。

Art of Ukiyoe is proud to introduce you to this fascinating world and to offer this collection of guaranteed original woodblock prints.

Art of Ukiyoe有机会能向大家介绍这个迷人的世界，并展示这些原版浮世绘，对此深感荣幸。

Information for this essay, as well as the other biographies and descriptions on this site, comes from a variety of sources. These include but are not limited to: The Brooklyn Museum Website; Marks, Andreas, Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks, 1680-1900 (Tuttle; 2010); Goodall, Hollis, Living for the Moment (Prestel; 2015);Uhlenbeck et al, Shin Hanga, the New Prints of Japan 1900-1960 (Ludion; 2022); Highly Important Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books and Drawings, from the HENRI VEVER Collection: Parts 1, 2 and 3 (Sotheby & Co.; 1974); Narazaki, Muneshige, Masterworks of Ukiyo-e (series)(Kodansha; 1968).

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
Under the well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa (c.1831)
Christie's, 2023.03

葛飾北齋（1760-1849）
神奈川冲浪里