Harunobu - Young Woman in the Rain

 #harunobu Woman in the rain #Japanese #print #ukiyo-e

How splendidly Harunobu depicts rain and wind while having also those details of the effects of weather on humans: the geta that has slipped off her foot, the washing and her own kimono blowing in the wind, and also we have the rain slanting down from the clouds above, and the colors of the obi emphasing and complementing the slant of the rain! 

Harunobu's Lovers in the Snow

Harunobu Lovers in the Snow 

Something to enjoy on Winter Solstice Day

Harunobu Print

#Harunobu #print

Girls gathering waterlilies or water lotuses is a theme that appears in a variety of literature and art.
Here's Harunobu's treatment of the topic. Some Ukiyo-e artists depict a whole pond of lotus or just the plants and flowers but Harunobu balances both the human element of the girls in a boat with the simple beauty of the plants themselves. It is not an elaborately colored print but has a simple elegance that lets the lines work.

Take a good look at the composition too.The balance of horizationals and verticals.

 The contrast of straight stems with the round curve of leaves and sleeves and obi. 

Early Omi Hakkei Prints

So you love #ukiyo-e ?
 You've heard of #omihakkei #hakkei and seen copies of the famous set by #hiroshige ?

Did you know he was not the first artist to do prints on that theme?

This is by Utagawa Toyoharu 

He's tried to fit all of the Hakkei onto one print and has rather distorted the proportions to include everything. The Ishiyamadera was further down the river that flows out from Lake Biwa and he has included an old castle that has since been destroyed tho a small park marks its site. Otsu ss shown as a village which is now a suburb of the modern city. Curiously though the the site of the moorings for the trade ships and barges is still a marina.

Other artists who dealt with the Hakkei theme often did so indirectly. Study the background in this Harunobu print. It is actually an Edo scene but refers to the Omi Hakkei tradition by depicting boats.

The tradition of comparing Edo scenes to those of the Omi Hakkei is also used by Hiroshige himslef in this print. Thats not geese returning to Katata. That's Umida !

Whereas this is Katata !

HARUNOBU Lovers in the Snow

#harunobu #ukiyo-e #japaneseprint #romance

LOVERS IN THE SNOW Approx.  1766-8 

This is one of Harunobus best known and most popular prints.

Its in CHUBAN format and used a special type of black ink referred to as urushi or lacquer due to the depth of color and also an embossing technique called karazuri.

It also shows what you can do with only 4 colors combined and a production team focused on quality. Harunobu has a smaller palette than Hokusai or Hiroshige but uses it with elegance.

Share it with your #valentine

Harunobu Night Scene with Plum Blossoms

#Harunobu A Ukiyo-e #print of a girl viewing #plumblossom at night

One of the advantages of the #ukiyo-3 multiple block printing technique was the innovation of printing solid color backgrounds. European printing had to wait for the development of metal plate lithography and silk screen printing.

The plum blossoms and branches are not overwhelmed by the solid black and a partial influence on this may have the example of lacquer with images appearing on black and dark backgrounds.

This effect would have been much more difficult to achieve with ink PAINTED on paper rather than rubbing and stamped into the paper.