Japanese Woodblock Print, c.1930s published by Nishinomiya

SIZE IN INCHES: aiban, 9 x 12.75 inches

HARUNOBU SUZUKI (1725-1770) Little is known about Harunobu’s life. His work suggests a strong influence from Okumura Masanobu, an early ukiyo-e artist and publisher in Edo, and Nishikawa Sukenobu, an ukiyo-e painter in Kyoto.

During the Meiwa era (1764-1772), a popular custom in Edo was exchanging picture calendars (egoyomi). These calendars, into which producers put a great deal of creative ingenuity, vied with one another in both design and the richness of their colors, and as a result the techniques of color printing made quantum leaps forward. Just 20 or so years previously, the invention of so-called benizuri-e had made it possible to print ukiyo-e in three or four colors, but already it was becoming possible to print about ten different colors on a single sheet of paper.

It was Harunobu who first applied this new technique to ukiyo-e prints. Such prints were called nishiki-e (brocade pictures) since their beauty was likened to that of elaborate nishiki brocade textiles. These early nishiki-e of Harunobu were the origin of the multicolored ukiyo-e with which we are most likely to be familiar today. The year of their origin can be traced, quite precisely, to 1765. Harunobu produced in his lifetime some 700 nishiki-e, many of them portraits, very popular among the urban population, of delicate, doll-like beautiful women.

VG no flaws of note