During the Edo period in Japan (1615-1857), woodblock printing was a common and popular art form. The Japanese took the Buddhist idea of ukiyo, or "the floating world," and interpreted the notion of the transient nature of the physical world as a reason to enjoy and appreciate fleeting material joys. From there came a trend of paintings and woodblock prints revering this tangible realm, called ukiyo-e, depicting scenes of nature and the everyday world.
Currently on exhibition in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is a collection of such woodblock prints from the Edo era, entitled "Flowers and Festivals: Four Seasons in Japanese Prints." The collection depicts the four seasons in Japan through various woodblock prints portraying beautiful scenes of nature, various festivals and Japanese cultural traditions.
The process of woodblock printing is tedious and difficult, and the Japanese prints are masterful specimens of the elusive art. They read as a single image and are put together so attentively that the evidence of the many layers involved in the crafting process can hardly be recognized. The viewer still gets a sense of depth from the seemingly flat coloration, though, and the scenes depicted are beautiful and meticulously attentive to detail.
In prints such as "Plum Estate, Kameido" (1857) by Utagawa Hiroshige I, a viewer can really appreciate the easily overlooked beauty of nature. The piece highlights even the barest tree branch. In this case, Hiroshige depicted the lovely white plum blossoms in a garden in Kameido, resting on a dark twisting tree branch and silhouetted against the bright pink sunset. This simple-yet-striking composition highlights both the brilliant shade of the sky and the delicacy of the little white plum blossoms. The composition was later imitated in an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh.
The scenes that include people, rather than focusing exclusively on nature, are just as enchanting. In "Young Couple Lighting Pipes beside the Sleeping Dragon Plum Tree" (circa 1767-68), Suzuki Harunobu depicts the same plum trees of Kameido that appear in Hiroshige's piece, but with the addition of two boys stopping for a smoke in front of them. Once again, the white of the blossoms are highlighted by the interplay between the color in its surroundings and their lack thereof. This time, it's the red and blue detailing in the boys' garments that brings out the contrast.
Cherry blossoms were also a major symbol of Japanese culture and nature. In several pieces, artists display the magnificence of the blossoms covering the trees in spring — the flowers look almost like snow. Another print by Hiroshige, "Cherry Blossoms at Night at Nakano-cho in the Yoshiwara" (1834-36), showcases the cherry blossoms in a striking display of the detail these prints are able to convey. His piece shows a night scene of Yoshiwara, the pleasure quarter of Tokyo, which was a popular subject for ukiyo-e artists. The tiny cherry blossoms against the night sky and the detailed patterns on the garments of the courtesans form a stellar example of the skilled way in which these prints were created. Picking out and lining up such tiny details in a woodblock is no easy task, and it is done without a hitch in this print.
In general, this collection is very elegantly composed, and although the title, "Flowers and Festivals," is rather superficial and does not really indicate the depth and skill of these prints, the exhibit brings out the ukiyo-e spirit thoroughly and beautifully.
