Post 1 – 2025 Aesthetics Exploration – Japanese Woodblocks

The Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock printing of Japan created by an ukiyo-e artist by the name of Hokusai shown above in late 1831.  Woodblock Printing was originally invented in China during the Tang dynasty from 618-907 to print texts, images and patterns on textiles which then moved to paper.  Woodblock printing later reached Japan in the late 700’s being used to reproduce foreign literature and the earliest example of printing known dates to 764 where an Empress Koken had small woodblock scrolls printed with Buddhist texts to accompany one million small wooden pagodas during her reign.  This symbolized a token of thanks for the defeat of a rebellion at the time.  Although woodblock printing started off as a method to print books and images, Ukiyo-e developed in Japan to print art.

Later, woodblock printing was used for Buddhist to print texts and images but due to mass production of printed books being expensive, printing remained in this realm in the eleventh century which didn’t hit the public market.  Above is an example of a text produced by a movable type press Saga-bon.  Woodblock printing then expanded from the 12th to the 13th century where many books were able to be printed and published.  Woodblock printing made its mark in literacy in early Edo period, but it was during the late Edo period where ukiyo-e rose and depicted subjects base on actors, sumo wrestlers, women, landscapes and more.  Multicolor woodblock printing called nishiki-e was developed by Suzuki Harunobu which helped influence ukiyo-e, the Japanese woodblock printing exemplified in the first picture.  The ownership of the woodblock would act as a “copyright” at the time and legal ownership wasn’t a thing.  This meant that the original ideas would be able to be built off of these woodblocks as publishers and people who purchased them would have control over its creation.  Eventually, ukiyo-e declined due to printing technologies evolving.

Influences of Japanese woodblock printing also made its way to European artist.  It was during the Meiji period where these woodblocks were purchased and well known in Paris.  This occured in the 1800s where these blocks would provide inspiration and replication for artists like Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.  Above is a picture of what the Japanese considered a beautiful woman to represent this art and bellow is a picture of Monet’s wife in a kimono show great influence from Japanese art.

The aesthetic became a traditional art form of Japan as well as the national aesthetic for the country.  It is most recognized for it’s vibrant colors influenced by everyday life and pleasures of of urban living.  The aesthetic can best be describe as using a flat line style, intricate detail, pastel colors and distinct outlines.

The process of creating the wood block would start off by being on paper and then transferred in reverse to be carved out for mass production of the artist work acting as a stamp.  For multiple colors, separate woodblocks would be carved and printed on the same canvas in it’s precise location.  It would be printed on paper and silk initially for Buddhist temples scriptures and later printed on washi paper which was able to capture fine details from the woodblocks.

Cited work:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodblock_printing_in_Japan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa

Japanese Woodblocks – Masterpieces of Art by Michael Robinson

 

2 Comments. Leave new

  • The examples you used were all really cool and good at exemplifying the wood block art style, and learning about the history and how it was developed throughout the ages was really interesting. One thing I would’ve liked to learn more about is how the art style was developed or how different artists had different styles since the examples you used were so unique and expressive. Also the process of how wood block prints are actually developed could’ve been interesting too.

  • Bryan Moreno Najera
    January 24, 2025 6:36 pm

    I never knew that the Great Wave was a wood block printing, that is so cool. The flow of the post discussing the evolution of this aesthetic is really well put together. I really like how you also include example pictures. However, could you further discuss the specifics that identify the aesthetic? I’d love to learn more about how the wood block prints are made.

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