Monday, May 04, 2009
Fukuoka Simplicity
These are Edo period woodblock illustrations (from the late 1700s to early 1800s). Of that much I am certain. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. Needless to say this disparate collection is by a variety of artists from a number of books. It is hosted by the Fukuoka University in Western Japan. 'Click everywhere' is the motto I followed. The translations were, at best, confusing.
Regrettably, the images are not particularly large. All of the above examples have had the watermark removed together with a variable amount of background restoration (silverfish/pest damage/staining). One hopes some preservation work on the originals is being undertaken. Still, it's a nice set, with early cartoons, random fun doodle-like figures, caricatures and more elaborate scenes, all manifested through the mostly sparse line work and precise multi-woodblock printing technique.
Inadvertently via the Architecture on Paper blog.
11 comments:
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simply exquisite. fascinating & beautiful. thank you.
ReplyDeleteKuwagata Keisai, Saito Shuho
ReplyDeleteit somehows reminds me of Miyazaki´s Mononoke Hime.
ReplyDeleteThe boar, the working ladies, the battles.
Hello.
ReplyDeleteThank you for checking my blog.
This Fukuoka University's page uses very old style Kanji, so the automatic translations become more confusing.
http://aopaper.exblog.jp/
The first couple of pictures had me wondering "is this going to be a swine flu post?"
ReplyDeleteBAD Kitty!
Well, if you knew just *how* close I got to including some semi-disguised reference or an alt tag mention of it, you wouldn't feel so bad. But then I figured *someone* would say something!
ReplyDeleteI think the names *Hana* mentions are the illustrators.
Isil, I don't know Mononoke. But I'm sure I've seen similar boar/pig semi-abstracted chase scenes before... somewhere or other.
And ken_n_arch, thanks: I've been following your site for a few months.
thanks again peacay for turning me on to another new site; i don't think i've seen any of these before.
ReplyDeletebut they remind me of something i've noticed -- how sometimes the ones that look the most minimally modern, even abstract, are often the oldest.
it looks fabulous
ReplyDelete"Simples e fascinante!
ReplyDeleteAmei o último; o extraordinário cavalo.
Obrigada pelo site."
Li
Sorry, do not speak English,
use Google translate Portuguese/English :(
"Simple and beautiful!
Loved the last; the extraordinary horse.
Thanks for the site."
Li
Simply beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLots of very very interesting stuff on your blog! Looks like a lot of work to collect all of these unique informations from the net!
Thank you for that and thank you for your comment on my blog! I`ll put a link to yours soon.
P.
Thanks a lot for removing de watermarks. One wonders whether its use does any good
ReplyDelete