Woodblock printing

classics be engraved in stone so that the people of China would have a real version of the china confucianism stories. As a result of the engraved texts, Confucian scholars placed black pieces of paper on the engraved sculptures and rub charcoal or graphite on the paper to have white texts against a dark paper and the emperors carved texts in a raised form before applying ink to the engraved letters so that the black texts can appear on the white paper. The techniques that the Confucian scholars and emperors used to have their own copies of important text would later be known as brass rubbing and printing. By the 10th and 11th century, woodblock printing also known as the Diamond Sutra began to take place in China to publish the Confucian classics, works from the Buddhist and the Daoist, and the Standard Histories since the beginning of Siam Qian. Woodblock printing is a skill of printing text, images, or patterns and was heavily used in East Asia and came from China as a way to print on fabric and paper. Immense amount of labour was put into carving texts in reverse on the pieces of wood,…

Japanese Woodblock Prints Japanese artists have produce some outstanding work through the years, from statues to beautiful architecture. Out of all the refined traditional art of Japan, the Japanese woodblock prints are probably the most widely known work. Woodblock printing was used in China for centuries for printing books, but it was adopted in Japan during the Edo period. During this period the prints represented mostly sexual workers of that time period. With time their subject changed and…

“To create an Ukiyo-e art print, first an image is carved in reverse onto woodblocks, covered in ink, and then pressed onto paper” (Gauvreau). These first prints were made in a single color using only Sumi ink. The world would have to wait nearly 900 years for the first colored prints to appear. Artists Okomura Masanobu and Suzuki Harunobu were among the first to produce color woodblock prints. Early color prints were made using a single block and black ink. The colors were hand painted by…

reside in a single home. There is a profound family and work association in Japanese society, this revolves around the traditional gender responsibilities within society. (Detzner, D., 2010) In the present day the Japanese family are in transition; the conventional family standards and individualistic no longer strictly apply. Nonetheless, there remain a keen gender founded classification of labor; males are distinguished as the fundamental employed person and females as predominantly…

The Tokugawa period was a cultural infusion of new forms of art. One form of art was practiced in the form of painting using a tedious process to get a spectrum of colors. Many woodblock paintings were like snapshots of everyday life. They weren't always drawn of wealthy aristocrats, rather a farmer's life. They were used to experience the unornamented, simple life. Some paintings are more urbanized and some are in rural areas. A common quality of many of the images is the presence of nature.…

Utagawa Hiroshige I created Hamamatsu: Winter Scene in the Edo period (1833-34) using the medium of woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Specifications include: dimensions of 9 in. x 14 in. and a landscape orientation, as showcased in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, U.K. The piece depicts a wintry rural scene on the outskirts of Hamamatsu station. The village and Hamamatsu Castle are visible in the distance. Porters warm themselves by a bonfire while another traveler looks on, pipe in hand,…

Katsushika Hokusai’s piece titled The Great Wave off Shore At Kanagawa is a Japanese woodblock print that was created around 1826-1833 in the Edo period. This piece is apart of Hokusai’s series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. Japan’s most famous mountain, Mount Fuji is in every piece in the series. This piece is relatively small at 10 1/8 inches x 14 15/16 inches. Yet, Hokusai did not make his magnificent pieces of art alone, he had skilled craftsman aid in the production of the each of his…

Tugboat Printshop is owned by Pennsylvanian husband and wife team Paul Roden and Valerie Lueth and they are woodblock master craftsmen. Together they produce original, extremely detailed woodblock prints. Each print that is created from a woodblock is unique. Their style that they use is very intricate with elaborate designs and shapes that add texture to the medium. I really enjoy all of their artwork but I am drawn to the Moth that is pictured below. It measures 16 x 21 inches. Woodblock…

Hokusai’s woodcut began as the optimus prime of his thirty-six piece series of woodcuts: Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. His piece began as a simple drawing that was attached to a slate of cherry wood which was then carved away until the initial drawing was left in the block. This was done several times, once for each color and then for the line work. The woodblocks where inked, pressed against the printing paper individually, and then the back of the paper was rubbed with a tool called a baren…

All types of printing started with the Chinese invention of paper(100CE) and woodblock printing(200CE). Although the early years of print are intriguing, I’m focusing more on the beginning of advertising with graphics and beyond. In my opinion, this was the beginning of modern graphic design. There are many printing styles to choose from the earliest type that didn 't require the designer to make every design one by one (Movable Type) to the most modern (Digital Printing). The movable type was…