Introduction to Japanese printmaking

Japanese prints, painted prints, were popular art forms in the Tokugawa era (1603- 1868), and prevailed in the middle and lower classes. The genre of printmaking called Ukiyo-e came into being with the development of Japanese economy and culture. Ukiyo-e prints reflect ordinary people and their daily lives in a realistic way. Social butterfly, geisha, street performances, famous tourist landscapes and actors and scenes in popular dramas are all depicted on performance posters, teahouse advertisements and personal prints. Although the Japanese don't think these prints are elegant art, they have a far-reaching influence on western art. In the late19th century, European artists who abandoned the rigid figurative style at that time were looking for a new art form. Japanese printmaking influenced artists such as Monet, Van Gogh, Whistler and Toulouse Rotleck with its simple design, decorative patterns and unnatural line outlines. Making a print requires the joint efforts of publishers, designers, sculptors and printers. Publishers entrust craftsmen to make and supervise their work. The designer draws a stroke on transparent paper and sticks it on the wood block. Through the paper, the sculptor cuts off the surrounding wood along the pattern, leaving a raised surface, that is, a wooden relief. Next, the printer brushes the ink thickened by rice paste on the relief. Prints are made by putting wet paper on colored wood blocks and rubbing them with Tobao (a hard pad covered with bamboo leaves). A piece of wood is used to make black and white photos. A set of wood blocks, each with a color, used to make color prints.