observe that, although through training and tradition the pupil has
gained a greater facility, yet the simplicity of the master is lost in
an excess of elaboration. The lines resemble those of Shunsho, though
there is more uniformity of stroke, with a greater delicacy, but the
simplicity of the first artist is merged in decorative purpose. Shunsho
is distinctly simple and his lines have a blended quality of relation,
giving a sense of repose which in the pupil is obscured by the tendency
to elaborate.
“In epitomizing the cardinal qualities expressed in the Utamaro
prints, the most marked is the suggestion of subjective, unconscious
skill that gives no impress of the objective. Each line seems to come
directly from the fountain-head of the man’s spiritual or soul nature,
though this very soul nature expresses itself often along sensual
lines. Indeed, were the artist less of a spiritual genius, he would
often become revoltingly sensual. To the casual observer the lines of
Utamaro show wonderful facility, and still greater delicacy, yet we
cannot but observe underlying all his art, especially in its later
phases, this subtle sensuality. The lower draperies of the Utamaro
figures have an almost insinuating fullness.
“The compositions of Yeishi, upon superficial study, suggest marked
facility and even some originality in line composition, with here and
there an eccentricity which gives character to his treatment. The
lines seem to be invariably broad and openly expressed. They lack the
strong personality and vigorous treatment of Hokusai, the suggestive
delicacy and voluptuousness of Utamaro, but seem to embody the vigorous
calligraphic stroke of Kiyonaga. We can place Yeishi upon a plane of
individuality because of his sensitive temperament which seemed to
be influenced by his environment and his master teacher. This varied
individuality was accompanied by a tendency towards imitation, yet
a generous discrimination would concede to him facility, technic,
refinement and rare judgment.
“The lines of Toyokuni show technical skill, and his calligraphic
stroke is simple and vigorous, yet he lacks the spiritual and
suggestive delicacy of Utamaro, giving the impression that
externalities influenced him, rather than the finer shades of artistic
interpretation.
[Illustration: The Snowstorm. By Kitugawa Yeizan.]
His best work is histrionic and is full of individuality, breaking
through the traditional stage attitudes, which impressed the artists
who developed along his lines.
“Yeizan’s treatment is peculiarly his own, having a simplicity almost
amounting to awkwardness expressed in a reserve of treatment. The
casual observer is impressed by a sense of incompleteness, but this
is overcome when the simple harmony of the lines is noted. Yeizan
invariably breaks loose from his first reserve. Beginning very
carefully he gradually loses his constraint, and the lower part of his
drapery shows greater impulse of treatment.
“The work of Yeisen, showing much of Utamaro’s facility, with a
touch of the vigour of Kiyonaga, is yet distinctly conceived along
traditional lines. It bears the strong impress of decorative sense, but
nevertheless the lines, though simple and well controlled, show rather
the finished master of technic than the originative mind. In Yeisen
we are less conscious of that emanating quality of originality and
forceful personality that we feel in Harunobu, Hokusai and Utamaro.”
In analyzing the composition of the celebrated work by Hokusai,
reproduced on the opposite page, Mr. Shepard comments: “In this, as
in all Hokusai’s pictures, we note the combination of vigour and
gentleness, characteristic aggression and insinuating suggestion,
an absolutely masterly touch, and yet painstaking in minutiæ. The
poise of the figure is admirable and absolutely satisfying in all
matters of drawing. The treatment of the waves, which are peculiarly
characteristic of the master’s touch, in their foamy sputter suggest
a comparison with the strength of Hiroshige’s huge billows, majestic
in their oily smoothness and sweeping grace. Giving the impression of
the middle distance, the artist has delicately approached with the
most wonderful ease, the vapory suggestion of the distant mountain
line. He slips from the vigour of the foreground with a parallel
stroke of astonishing freedom, seeming almost to remain poised, so
that we reach without violence the faintly suggested distance as if
we had unconsciously slid from reality into dreamland, unknowing of
the transition. Hokusai possesses a masterly technic, a characteristic
vigour, imagination, delicacy ofttimes opposed by a brutal ruggedness,
and above all a pervading sense of humour.”
[Illustration: One of the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. By Hokusai.]
Hints to Collectors of Ukiyo-ye Gems.
To truly appreciate Japanese prints, a knowledge of the language of the
block must first be acquired, then the pursuit has an indescribable
charm, inexplicable excepting to the initiated, but to those who have
fallen under the spell, the love of Ukiyo-ye gems becomes a veritable
passion. The collector of old prints must be guided in his selection
by the quality of the paper, which should be soft and vibrant, the
fibrous tentacles upon its surface often forming shadows where it has
been exposed to the dust. The register must be perfect, each colour
being confined absolutely to its prescribed space. Perfection in the
register is an infallible guide, and prints with a perfect register
will increase in value. The colours must be soft and melting, in many
cases one tone shading into another, not harshly determined by the
lines of the block, as in even the most beautiful reproductions. The
florid colouring of the later impressions by the Hiroshige are notable
examples of the deterioration caused by the use of cheap pigments and
the haste of the printer who had to supply the increasing demand for
cheap pictures.
There are often exquisite examples of colouring to be found among the
later impressions from the old blocks, but the lovely colours and
nuances of colours conjured by the artists, designers and printers in
loving collaboration, before commercialism had invaded Japan, can never
be seen again, even as the disciples of William Morris seem unable to
reproduce the beautiful shades which the genius of the master workman
evolved from the dyeing-vat.
Bibliography, for Use of Students.
Anderson, William: Pictorial Arts of Japan. (London: Sampson Low,
1886.)
Anderson, William: Japanese Wood Engravings: Their History, Technique
and Characteristics. (London: Portfolio, 1895.)
Bing, S.: Artistic Japan: Compiled by S. Bing, with the assistance
of Wm. Anderson, T. Hayashi, E. de Goncourt, and others. (New York:
Brentano’s, 5 Union Square.)
Fenollosa, Ernest Francisco: An Outline of the History of Ukiyo-ye.
(Tokyo: Kobayashi.)
Fenollosa, Mary McNeil: Hiroshige, the Artist of Mist, Snow, and Rain.
(San Francisco, 1901.)
Goncourt, E. de: Outamaro, Le Peintre des Maisons Vertes. (Paris: 11
Rue de Grenelle, 1891.)
Gonse, Louis: L’Art Japonais. (Paris: A. Quartin, 1883.)
Hartmann, Sadakichi: Japanese Art. (Boston: Page & Co., 1904.)
Hayashi, T.: Catalogue of the Hayashi Collection, with Illustrations.
(Paris, 1902.)
Holmes, C. J.: Hokusai. (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1901.)
Huish, Marcus B.: Japan and Its Art. (London: The Fine Arts Society,
1893.)
Jarves, James Jackson: A Glimpse of the Art of Japan. (New York,
1875.)
Okakura, Kakuzo: Essays on Japanese Art, in “Japan,” edited by F.
Brinkley. Also: Japanese Pictorial Art, in Vol. 7, “Japan and China,”
by F. Brinkley. (Boston and Tokyo: J. B. Millet Co.)
Pepper, Charles Hovey: Japanese Prints. (Boston: Walter Kimball &
Company.)
Perzynski, Friedrich: Farbenholzschnitt Der japanische
Farbenholzschnitt. (Berlin.)
Revon, Michel: Etude Sur Hok’sai. (Paris, 1896.)
Seidlitz, W. von: Geschichte des japanischen Farbenholzschnitts.
(Dresden: Gerhard Kuhtmann, 1897.)
Strange, Edward F.: Japanese Illustration. (London: George Bell &
Sons, 1904.)
Strange, Edward F.: Colour Prints of Japan. (Langham Series of Art
Monographs. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904.)
Fac-similes
of the most famous Signatures of Ukiyo-ye Artists.
Hishikawa Moronobu. 1643-1711-13.
Okumura Masanobu. 1690-1720.
Suzuki Harunobu. 1747-1818.
Koriusai. 1760.
Shunsho. Died 1792.
Iitsu (Hokusai). 1760-1849.
Hokusai. 1760-1849.
Gakio Rojin Manji (Hokusai). 1760-1849.
Hok’kei. 1780-1856-9.
Kiyonaga. Died 1814.
Utamaro. 1754-1806.
Toyokuni. 1768-1825.
Kikugawa Yeizan. Flourished 1810-30.
Kunisada. 1785-1864.
Yeishi. Flourished 1754-1805.
Keisei Yeisen. 1790-1848.
Kuniyoshi. 1800-1861.
Hiroshige. 1793-1858-60.
Hiroshige. 1793-1858-60.
Index
_Page_
Beni, 22, 39
Botticelli, 13
Brunt, Henry Van, 32
Child, Theodore, 24
Cho Densu, 6
Chromo-xylography, 27
Cimabue, 7
Crane, Walter, 4
Danjuro, 26
Eta, 25
Forty-seven Ronin, 14
Genroku, 13
Giorgione, 24
Giotto, 7
Guantai, 70
Harunobu, Suzuki, 23-26
Hayashi, T., 38
Heizei, 3
Hiroshige, 34, 57
Hogen, 7
Hokusai, 34, 47
Itcho, 13
Iyemitsu, 31
Jipensha, Ikkou, 36
Josetsu, 4
Kako, 20
Kano, 3, 4, 5
Kanaoka, 30
Kenzan, 13
Kitao, 29
Kiyomasu, Torii, 22
Kiyomitsu, Torii, 26
Kiyonaga, Torii, 32, 33
Kiyonobu, Torii, 26
Korin, 13
Koriusai, 28-33
Kozo, 39
Kunisada, 20
Kuranosuki, 16
Leonardo da Vinci, 13-14
La Farge, 30
Mang-wa, 54
Matahei, 8-9
Masanobu, 5-6
Meiji, 8
Ming Dynasty, 2
Mitford, 14
Miyagawa Choshun, 21
Mitsunobu, 7
Mitsunori, 9
Motomitsu, 3
Moronobu, 6, 9, 10, 11, 20, 21
Motonobu, 5, 6, 7
Nishiki-ye, 22
No Kagura, 25
Notan, 70
Okio, 30, 31
Okumura Masanobu, 22
Otsu-ye, 10
Pater, 2, 24
Popular School, 2, 8, 9, 30
Register, 77
Renaissance, 6
Rintai, 70
Ruskin, 40
Sesshiu, 51
Sekiyen, 38
Shigemasa, 29
Shigenaga, 23
Shoguns, 4, 48
Shunro, 47-50
Shunsho, 26-29, 49
Shunsui, 22
Sotatsu, 13
Sukenobu, 29
Sumi-ye, 21
Tan-ye, 21, 39
Tanyu, 11
Tokugawa, 13
Torii School, 21-34
Tosa School, 3, 4, 5, 9
Toyoharu, 29
Toyokuni, 33, 44
Toyonobu, 29
Tsunetaka, 4
Utagawa, 29
Utamaro, 20, 33, 35-46
Uyeno, 50
Yamato, 3
Yeisen, 75
Yeishi, 71
Yeitoku, 9
Yeizan, 71, 75
Yoshiwara, 36-37
[Illustration: Surimono: The Ride of the Warrior Miura Kenisuke. The
inscription is a Poem he composed before setting out for Corea. By
Yanagawa Shigenobu, the Son-in-law of Hokusai.]