The Beauty of Ukiyo-e

by Toyokuni Utagawa

ca. 1815

Why Collect Japanese Prints?

We are blessed, in the forms of the world around us, with an abundance of beauty and fascination: colors, shapes, lines, movements, histories, narratives and relationships between things that are up to us to constitute and appreciate. Collecting art and artifacts is one way in which we engage with this world of forms and try to untangle its secrets, learning to see and appreciate it on higher levels. It is certainly not the only way to accomplish the refinement of our vision and minds, but it is without question one of the most pleasurable routes, a personal and direct engagement with things.

Ukiyo-e - Cultural Value and Beauty

There are countless worthwhile fields in which collectors can explore aspects of our multi-faceted world, each with its own limitations and focus.

Some are more directed at nature, others at human creations; some concentrate more on history, others on contemporary life; some take primary interest in the cultural aspect, others take aesthetic beauty as their focus. What is so thrilling about the field of Japanese prints is that it covers so many of these grounds, connecting profoundly with so many of the most important aspects of human life. The completely natural materials of early prints and books have a deep appeal to the senses, but of course these are human constructions, reflecting not only the society of the moment in which they were made, but also the heritage of the deeper past.

Ukiyo-e prints thus have great historical and cultural interest and importance, but they are also beautiful objects that speak to us immediately in the present. It is hard to imagine another field in which such breadth of subject - covering almost every known aspect of life - combines with such aesthetic depth - the incredibly refined technical and artistic excellence of the form - in works that are nonetheless readily available for collection by the average person.

High Standards as a Result of Specialization

The beauty of the ukiyo-e print is in part the result of a careful subdivision of labor, in which the roles of conceiving, designing, detailing, block carving, papermaking and printing the work were given to specialists, each of whom refined his craft within its particular limits.

With the Western emphasis on the individual creative artist, we seem to care only for the signature of the designer on the print, relegating the others' roles to those of business or craftspeople. But the publishers, studio pupils, expert carvers and printers and hard-laboring paper makers have all played vital roles in the coming to being of ukiyo-e prints, and are largely responsible for their high technical and artistic standards.

Add to this the commercial aspect of ukiyo-e, the fact that these prints were expressly created to appeal to the mass public, and the reason not only for their technical excellence but also the immediate attractiveness of the Japanese print becomes clear. Utilizing colors, patterns and stylish designs to catch the eye, excite the senses and/or warm the heart, the ukiyo-e print has both a brilliant surface and a deep reaching appeal.

The Floating World

In terms of subject matter, it has been said that ukiyo-e prints have a certain realism, depicting the present forms of the world rather than abstract and formulaic artistic ideals, but the powerful streak of fantasy and idealization in ukiyo-e is undeniable.

The floating world of the eighteenth century is one of eternal youth, in which beautiful women and handsome men vastly outnumber those flawed by age, sickness or the misfortunes of genetics.

And everything about these prints, from the exquisite if non-naturalistic coloring to the ever-graceful lines, invites us to engage in these beautiful floating world fantasies. Another kind of fantasy, which came to the fore in the nineteenth century, has a masculine and harder edge, with images of heroes engaged with monsters, or tattooed thieves who bristle with toughness, but the idealized aspects of the prints are much the same. As collectors, we may identify more with one type of fantasy than with another, and this is part of the decision of what to collect. But both strains of fantasy have a certain appeal, if we remain open to the effects they are attempting to create.

Abundant Variety of Ukiyo-e Subjects

Is there a subject that we cannot find in Japanese prints? Of course there must be, but we are hard-pressed to think of one. Even within the supposedly limited motifs of kabuki and the pleasure quarters that dominate early ukiyo-e, a wide variety of themes appear.

Of course sexuality, feminine beauty, carnal desire and love are key themes in prints related to the Yoshiwara, while drama, passion, strength and bravura dominate early kabuki prints. But within and around these central pillars of ukiyo-e, all sorts of grand themes are treated, including the relations between the present and past, man and nature, male and female, the human and the divine, the worldly and the supernatural, justice and vengeance, the major cities and the social classes.

The subject matter reflects not only the present forms of life in the city of Edo, but also the myths, legends and historical narratives of cultural memory. As ukiyo-e developed, the themes covered became only broader, particularly with the development of genres such as the warrior print, the landscape and the surimono greeting card, while in book form, the subject matter of prints was truly unlimited, reflecting every known aspect of the world. Nor should this be so surprising, for Japanese printmaking in its time was not an art form, but a technology, covering areas of interest in nearly every sector of society, male or female, child or adult, illiterate or scholar, much as we might find in the range of magazines and posters available for purchase today. It is to the credit of this technology, however, that it remained ever artful, so that so many of these common products of the past appear today as beautifully colored, stylish, and refined works worthy of the label "fine art".

Collecting Ukiyo-e for Everybody

And it is for this reason as well that so many prints remain for us today, making it truly, even now, an art for everyone. Personally, I know of no other field in which works of such artistic mastery and cultural interest are so readily available to the average person for collection.

Like the fallen leaves of a massive tree of culture, ukiyo-e prints lie in colorful piles in a contemporary gallery, waiting for us to sort through, and distinguish those that appeal to us. The acquisition of works by those designers now commonly acknowledged to be finest may require some financial sacrifice, but there are yet a considerable number of pieces of substantial beauty and interest that can be had for "a song". And these include works, with manifold charms and attractions, that will often and again make you feel like singing.

Learning how to sort - how to see and define what is important to you - is the beginning of the formation of a meaningful collection. But every collection starts somewhere, and the adventure of collecting is often the hunt to find the right road for you. The wrong turns and bumps along the way, rather than being thought of as errors, should be seen as part of the adventure of finding the way - your way of collecting.

Dan McKee

The author, Dan McKee is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Japanese literature program at Cornell University, NY.  He has a Master of the Fine Arts degree from Syracuse University, as well as an M.A. from Cornell.

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