Overview

The term ukiyo-e (lit. floating world pictures ) refers to a distinctive phenomenon in Japanese art during the Edo period and can be defined temporally, geographically and socially. Most importantly, it developed its own distinctive stylistic character. Hitherto, most studies of ukiyo-e have been founded on a descriptive approach where authors have sought to identify its principal characteristics and describe the output of the different schools and artists. Recent research, however, has shifted into a more explanatory mode, locating explanations of ukiyo-e's distinctive pictorial character in descriptions of the socio-cultural context to which it pertained. This study illuminates new pathways to a greater appreciation of ukiyo-e by examining the environments and conditions under which ukiyo-e artists worked. Consequently, the author explores the conceptual foundations which informed the artists and the ways artists learned the knowledge and skills of their craft; also, and most importantly, he examines the sorts of function ukiyo-e pictures were required to perform and the conventions, pictorial devices, spatial constrains and material conditions under which they worked.

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9781901903416

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David Bell is director of Postgraduate Studies at the University of Otago's Department of Education, New Zealand. He gained his PhD from the University of Otago for his research into ukiyo-e, which was subsequently published as Ukiyo-e Explained by Global Oriental (2004). His previous publications have focused on the history and theory of print-making, and include Alexander Hare McLintock: Printmaker (1994) and Chushingura and the Floating World (2001). He is currently engaged in research relating to aspects of sensibility in the Edo period.

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