Takasago Harbor
Original title: Takasago Harbor
kurzbeschreibung
Suzuki Harunobu's colour woodblock print "Hafen von Takasago", made around 1760, presents two figures in a boat against a night setting. Ink and colour were printed onto paper, and the sheet belongs to the genre of the Japanese colour woodblock print.
Description
Up front a figure sits upright and raises the eyes, while a second one behind looks forward. Both wear traditional Japanese dress. Mountains and a moon divide the upper part of the image, and the boat carries a sail. Waves border the lower edge, with characters standing at the right. Brown and grey tones govern the palette.
Context
As a pioneer of multicolour woodblock printing (nishiki-e), Suzuki Harunobu worked in Edo, present-day Tokyo. Around 1760, when this sheet was made, the city audience took an interest in scenes of everyday life and in literary subjects. Takasago, a place in the province of Harima, is familiar from Japanese literature and Nō theatre and is often linked with the theme of fidelity.
Impact
Calm emanates from the arrangement, and the muted colours reinforce it. Figures and landscape feel close and poetic — a trait peculiar to Harunobu's style.
Technique
Lines and tonal values shape the sheet: the motif was cut into wooden blocks and transferred to paper with ink and colour. Harunobu worked with delicate lines and several gradations of colour — for its time a technical advantage.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)