Ukiyo-e / Images of an ephemeral world

Ukiyo-e is the Japanese art of stamping paint onto wooden boards that originated in the late 16th century.

Ukiyo-e can be translated as “images of the floating or ephemeral” or “melancholic world”, since the artist was said to capture transient (floating) activities, but that they were charming to look at.

This art was very popular among the middle class in Japan, more frequently in Edo (currently Tokyo) They decorated their houses with these paintings on wooden boards with themes of beautiful women, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, scenes of daily life, landscapes, birds and flowers.

They were done in a collaboration between the painter, the wood craftsman (who made a stamp type) and the printer.

The first prints were monochrome. The lines that defined the basic design were printed, then the artist applied color over the print, and finally the basic lines were reprinted.

In the Meiji period, with the influence of Western technology such as photography, the demand for ukiyo-e declined, but it gained popularity in the Western world in circles of Impressionist artists, such as Van Gogh, Monet, and others.

Ukiyo-e has represented Japan in many ways for many years. As a nation steeped in tradition, many of the places immortalized in these tables, more than three centuries ago, are still more or less in the same state.

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There are many places in Japan where you can admire ukiyo-e, such as the Tokyo National Museum , Ota Memorial Museum of Art , Japan Ukiyo-e Museum, Hokusai Museum (where you can admire Hokusai’s famous print, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”), among others.

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