Art of Ukiyoe
Fine Japanese Prints
Masterpieces and rarities, from early Ukiyoe to Shin Hanga, all guaranteed original.
Our Newest
Kawase Hasui
Kansai edition: Soemoncho District in Osaka, from the series of Collection of scenic views of Japan II(1933)
川濑巴水
日本風景集II 関西編 大坂宗右ェ門町の夕 (1933年)
Toyohara Chikanobu (1838–1912)
Chrysanthemun Figure, from the series of Collection of Magic Lantern
Featured Print:
Dreams of Meiji Women
The Magic Lantern – also known as a “Slide Lantern” -- was an early projection device that illuminated interchangeable slides within a wooden box. A precursor to the slide projector, as well as movies, it was a hit in Meiji Japan, as were so many items that flooded the country after it was “opened” for trade with the West. Anyone could look in and glimpse distant and amazing worlds and events, one after the other. It was a dream machine.
And like many curious Western devices, it began popping up in woodblock prints. Toyohara Chikanobu used it as the centerpiece and narrative conceit of one of his most interesting series, Collection of Magic Lantern. Here he took the dream-like quality of these photographic images to represent actual dreams and daydreams. But not just any dreams: these images represented the hopes and ambitions -- some modest, some truly bold -- of Japanese women.
This was a time when society norms were slowly changing in Japan as the details of other cultures became known. Among the shifting views was that of a woman’s role in society. To be sure, change came slowly, and still does, but Chikanobu did something extraordinary here. While female beauty had long been an Ukiyoe staple, women had usually been treated as little more than pretty dolls or sexual playthings. Not here. Here the artist gives women hopes and dreams equaling, even rivalling, those of men.
Each of the prints from this series is filled with visual clues, some of which are hard to divine. In this print, a woman – a wife and mother, we assume – uses an old-fashioned, coal-heated iron to smooth her husband’s kimono, while her child sleeps nearby. It is a scene of domestic bliss, and it is wonderfully drawn (love the iron). But her mind is elsewhere, and her thoughts are captured in the circular image above her head, the Magic Lantern of her day (or evening) dream.
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And what is it? Well, she appears to want to ride an elephant while oddly miniature people gather around her. I’ve Googled “What does it mean if I dream of riding an elephant amid tiny people?” but haven’t found any satisfying explanations, so let’s just assume that elephants were rarely if ever seen in Meiji Japan, so riding one would represent a dramatic break from the daily routine of ironing your husband’s kimono.
The colors are luxurious, all glowing reds and purple with a gorgeous almost-magenta bokashi wash in the background, and the intricate printing is remarkably precise, as befitting the high craftsmanship marking the final days of classic woodblock printing in Japan. The circle encompassing the dream/wish is a strong and inviting graphic element.
Other examples of this series display aspirations both mundane and extraordinary.
In this one, a classic Sumida River snow scene is juxtaposed with a woman reading a newspaper, suggesting she’s following current events. In another, a woman in Western dress and carrying a heavy, cloth-bound book dreams of giving a speech at what appears to be a political rally. Maybe it’s more than a dream: maybe it’s her plan. I can’t find a good link to this print, but the idea must have been shocking at the time – a woman running for elected office?
One wonders: was he joking? Was he making fun of his subjects for the amusement of the mostly male print-buying public? I don’t think so: these prints show real empathy for their subjects, in my opinion.
I go back-and-forth on Chikanobu, who some consider the last true Ukiyoe print designer. (Indeed, the photographs used in the Magic Lanterns at the time were fast displacing woodblock prints.) Sometimes his images are just too pretty-pretty and decorative for me. But in this series, he broke the mold. He provided glimpses of women with three-dimensional personalities of the kind rarely seen in Ukiyoe. And they are great to look at.
Sharon
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