Okumura Masanobu, God Father; Pioneer; Master; The Birth of the Pillar; Cutting Edge Woodblocking, Black Ink in Motion.
Born at the end of the 17th Century(1686 Japanese Edo period) Okumura Masanobu started his life during a time of great peace and prosperity for the island of Japan.
It’s citizens, at the onset of the Tokugawa rule, were cleansed of almost all western influence after a violent purge of all things and people, especially those related to Catholicism. The purge left not a single surviving westerner, Jesuit priest, nor Japanese convert, a twenty year genocide leaving a butcher’s bill estimated around 50,000. By the year 1630, all contact with the outside world was limited to a single small island, bequeathed to the Dutch who were the only westerners impartial to the global fanaticism sweeping the Christian world. An imperialistic race to conquer, and convert as many heathen souls imperialistic . With the onset of European imperialism egged on by the Vatican call to arms and the European’s imperialistic race to establish as many colonies amongst the . non-fanatical Catholics A including a great deal of newly converted Japanese Christians, ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate, were caste into society by the feudal ranking system favored by those whom followed the heavily influenced Confucian schools of thought under the Buddhist religion.
Okumura Masanobu, God Father; Pioneer; Master; The Birth of the Pillar; Cutting Edge Woodblocking, Black Ink in Motion.
Born at the end of the 17th Century(1686 Japanese Edo period) Okumura Masanobu started his life during a time of great peace and prosperity for the island of Japan. It’s citizens, at the onset of the Tokugawa rule, were cleansed of almost all western influence after a violent purge of all things and people, especially those related to Catholicism. The purge left not a single surviving westerner, Jesuit priest, nor Japanese convert, a twenty year genocide leaving a butcher’s bill estimated around 50,000. By the year 1630, all contact with the outside world was limited to a single small island, bequeathed to the Dutch, tolerated simply because they did not push Christian teachings on the Japanese, the only westerners smart enough to remain impartial to the fanaticism sweeping the kings and queens of the westernworld -an imperialistic rat race to conquer, and convert as many heathen souls and barbarian lands to chrisianity. Vatican’s call to arms and the race between european nations and their imperialistic dreams of establishing as many colonies as possible amongst the New World heathens. non-fanatical Catholics A including a great deal of newly converted Japanese Christians, ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate, were caste into society by the feudal ranking system favored by those whom followed the heavily influenced Confucian schools of thought under the Buddhist religion.
It was due to this time of isolation and prosperity that the Japanese Samurai class and craftsman flocked to Japanese cities. Art, literature, poetry, theatre all thrived under this system. The wealthy samurai class needed items that signified their personal wealth and power, fueling an industry of craftsman competing in their craft to produce everyday objects into masterpieces. Laquer bottles, dishes, woodblock printing, swordsmiths, bottle makers, Jewelers, fashioning works of art out of the simplest of things.
While the handling of money was seen as beneath the samurai class, it became an inevitable part of everyday life, a necessity that granted a new found power to the lower classes, evening the playing field between the ruling 5% samurai and the craftsman and merchants classes. Art and creativity thrived in the atmosphere of what the Japanese referred to as “the floating world”, the booming pleasure districts nurtured a rich Japanese culture, captured and portrayed in ukiyo-e by the famous Japanese woodblock print artists who pushed the boundaries of the printmaking artform, developing a way to mass produce their art and disseminate it to the masses. They created books, gossip papers, theatre promotions(surimono), Kabuki theatre plays, depictions of famous beautiful bijin-ga and geishas, in addition to the famous landscapes by Hokusai and Hiroshige.
The woodblock print, can be credited for helping to spread literacy amongst both the men and women population during the Edo period, which helped the Japanese usher in an industrial age rather quickly after the fall of the Shogunate. Masanobu, painter and publisher of illustrated books who introduced innovations in woodblock printing and print-design technique in Japan.
Masanobu taught himself painting and print designs by studying the works of Torii Kiyonobu (died 1729), thus starting his career as Torii’s imitator. About 1724 Masanobu became a publisher of illustrated books and brought out his own works. He was one of the first to adopt Western perspective through the Chinese prints available in Edo at that time. He produced large-scale prints depicting such scenes as the inside of theatres, stores, and sumptuous living quarters. Such prints were called uki-e (“looming picture”) prints for the foreshortening perspective effects they produced. He is also said to have founded the format of habahiro hashira-e, or wide, vertical prints. His style was noted for its vividness with gentle and graceful lines, which also showed restraint and dignity.
Okumura Masanobu executes the Shoki in the trademark urushi-e style of thick flowing black lines of which he is considered a master. He is also the first artist to begin experimenting with the hashira-e format. Pillar prints became massively popular during the Edo period, as the narrow format created interesting design characteristics for artists to explore. Sadly for us, this also means that intact examples of pillar prints are scarce, due to the fact that people actually decorated their homes with them.
Publisher Details:
Edo Gallery
https://www.edogallery.com/
5857506146
770 Ayrault rd Box 414
Fine Japanese woodblock prints & Asian art for the discriminating collector. Collectors can view our online catalogue of original works by artists such as Hokusai, Utamaro, Hiroshige, Hasui, Haranobu, Kunisada, Yoshitoshi, Yoshida, and more. Japanese woodblock prints from the Edo period, meiji restoration to contemporary shin hanga and sosaku hanga. We specialize in rare, esoteric, and We guarantee the authenticity of every print we sell for life.
