#Ukiyo-e

Sakura and hanami: Katsushika Hokusai, Fuji from Gotenyama at Shinagawa on the Asian Art

Sakura and Hanami: The Art of Impermanence

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “Art is long, and time is fleeting.” This sentiment perfectly expresses the idea of hanami, or flower viewing.

Ledys Chemin 20 March 2023

Utagawa Hiroshige maple trees: Utagawa Hiroshige, Maple Trees at Mama, Tekona Shrine and Tsugi Bridge, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 1857, ink on paper, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Maple Trees at Mama by Utagawa Hiroshige

Utagawa Hiroshige’s prints were exported to Europe and became very popular with Western artists. Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh owned...

James W Singer 3 March 2023

Art History 101

Japonisme: Western Fever for Japanese Art and Culture

During the mid-19th and 20th centuries, Western art saw the birth of Japonisme. The term was coined by Philippe Burty in 1872 and refers to the craze...

Jimena Escoto 3 March 2023

Print with large white hare with red eyes presented frontally on pink background. The body of a hare is rounded. Asian Art

10 Rabbits in Asian Art for the Year of the Rabbit

Happy Year of the Rabbit, everyone! January 22, 2023, in the Chinese lunisolar calendar, marked the beginning of the Year of the Water Rabbit. Lunar...

Ela Bobek 22 February 2023

Asian Art

Japan’s Greatest Masterpiece: (Thirty) Six Views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai

Everyone knows The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the print created by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai. But not everyone knows that The...

Zuzanna Stańska 12 February 2023

Asian Art

Most Beautiful Ukiyo-e Winter Views of Japan

The ukiyo-e genre of art flourished in Japan between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term translates as “picture[s] of the floating world.” Its...

Zuzanna Stańska, Kate Wojtczak 15 January 2023

Hokusai Great Wave, Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, ca. 1830-1832, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Asian Art

Hokusai’s Great Wave Explained

You might not know the title of Hokusai’s print, but Under the Wave off Kanagawa is almost instantly recognizable. His Great Wave reveals...

Marina Kochetkova 26 December 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Courtesan Hinaaya of the Chōji House by Kikukawa Eizan

The Courtesan Hinaaya of the Chōji House by Kikukawa Eizan, is one of the woodblock prints from Vincent and Theo van Gogh’s collection in the Van...

Urvi Chheda 26 December 2022

Theater & Cinema

The Scenes You Might Know from Anime: Outstanding Prints of Hasui Kawase

Hasui Kawase (1883–1957) was one of Japan’s most important and prolific printmakers and artists of the late 19th and early-20th centuries. As a...

Isabella Hill 26 December 2022

Erotica

All You Must Know About Japanese Erotic Art, Shunga (18+)

Ukiyo-e art, pictures of the “floating world” are famous among those interested in art history. Everyone knows Hokusai’s The Great Wave off...

Zuzanna Stańska 4 November 2022

Asian Art

Art from Horror Movies: Japanese Woodblocks of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

For centuries, gore has been part of the culture in Japan, rooted in its history. Its representation is very common in woodblock engraving pictures.

Sofia Rodriguez Cuevas 4 November 2022

Japanese woodblock prints Asian Art

How Japanese Woodcuts Are Made

Hokusai’s Great Wave from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji and Hiroshige’s The Plum Garden in Kameido from One Hundred Famous Views of...

Irina Diana Calu 4 November 2022