JAPANESE POSTERS, GRAPHICS AND DECORATIVE ARTS

Abstract

In the second month of 1856, the censors approved five prints by Utagawa Hiroshige(1797-1858) the series title One Hundred Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei). And so began the story of one of the most famous landscape series of Japanese woodblock printing. Whil the city of Edo , rename Tokyo I 1868, had alredy been chosen as the subject of numerous paintings printed books and other woodcut series, therehad never been a series with so many views as promised in the title of this one. The promise was more than kept: by the time of the appearance of the final pictures in the tenth month of 1858, a total of 120 individual prints, issued in instalments, did indeed constitute the most comprehensive topographical series among ukiyo-e, “pictures of the floating , fleeting world”. The term ukiyo gose back to the Buddhist notion of the world’s illusory and transitory nature. In the course of the late 17 century , the term was extended to secular contexts, reffering now not only to the pleasures of the theatres, teahouses and brothels, but also other popular entrertainments in the cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Edo. The last part of the word “e” simply means picture. Many ukiyo-e functioned as advertisements for theatrical perfomences or sum tournements, or they feted the celebrities of entertainment culture. Portraits of actors in the latest roles, along with those of the most popular trend-setting courtesans, were among the best-slling motifs. Advertisement is a need for the modern daily life. Nevertheless, in 1894, Audrey Beardsley thought that the artists who mean art doing posters, betray art itself. Since today, in the capitals like Tokyo, Paris, London, Vienna, Belgrade, Skopje, Athens, Istanbul and world around, 30 seconds TV spots are shaping out taste, positions, and views, it seems very difficult to understand the role of posters and advertising during the XIX century. Nowadays, the campaigns are mainly transmitted by television channels. On the other hand, posters have lost their initial importance and are used generally in traffic or as info panels for some event. Today’s posters are done on the basis of one unique medium : photography. Japanese decorative art realized a huge influence on the european one. What are the historical phases of posters and graphics inspired by Japan? Who are the big masters of Japanese graphics and prints?