On the Engawa of Tsuta-ya
Original title: On the Engawa of Tsuta-ya
kurzbeschreibung
Where many prints of the period give a single figure the whole stage, this colour woodblock from around 1765 gathers three women in traditional dress on a bench. Suzuki Harunobu made the sheet in ink and colour on paper, and it belongs to the ukiyo-e genre under the title 'On the Veranda of the Tsuta-ya'.
Description
Three women sit on a wooden bench, their kimonos differing in pattern and hue, among them red, orange and grey. Hair and headwear are rendered with unusual care. Panelling and the bench place the group in an interior. Warm tones dominate, orange and red above all, broken by greys and beiges, while light falling from the front brightens the faces and bodies.
Context
Suzuki Harunobu ranks among the foremost artists of the Japanese colour woodblock in the eighteenth century and is regarded as a pioneer of full-colour printing, the nishiki-e that emerged in the 1760s. This sheet dates from the Edo period, when the urban bourgeoisie began to value such prints as an art form in their own right. Tsuta-ya probably named a teahouse or inn in Edo, a setting that recurs often in ukiyo-e.
Impact
Clean contours and precisely observed figures give the print a calm, harmonious presence. The warm palette and the lit faces create an intimate, almost idyllic mood.
Technique
Ink and colour were printed from woodblocks onto paper. Full-colour printing required several blocks, one for each colour. Finely cut lines and exactly registered colour areas are characteristic of the nishiki-e method.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)