ARTSNATIONAL Coffs Coast’s April arts talk featured the work of Japanese woodblock master and innovator, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858).
Titled “Hiroshige’s Woodblock Masterpieces and the Japanese Sensibility for Snow”, it was presented by cultural historian Dr Kathleen Olive.
Many people associate Japanese woodblock artworks with Hokasai (1760-1849) and his enduring Great Wave of Kanagawa masterpiece, Dr Olive explained.
Hiroshige was born a generation later, during an unsettled time in Japan’s history.
From a low-ranking Samurai family, he was an outsider to the closed world of painting academies.
Nevertheless, he had a rare talent.
After many failed attempts, he finally secured an apprenticeship where he learned the craft of woodblock printmaking and produced a range of conventional, easy to sell works.
As Japan confronted the encroaching outside world, Hiroshige’s calm artistic vision connected with and reassured people at every level of society.
He went on to become one of the country’s most talented, prolific and popular artists.
Hiroshige influenced the work of Van Gogh and, later, the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who lived and worked in Japan.
Through East-West exchange, Hiroshige benefited from being exposed to new colours like Prussian Blue and vibrant magenta, bringing vibrancy to his otherwise monochrome palette.
Dr Olive explained in detail the technical skills invoked in woodblock printing, such as the way negative on block is positive on page.
Hiroshige was a master at how to leave white or blank space, and how to extend the lifespan on a woodblock to extract the highest number of prints.
A highly imaginative scene creator and expert colourist, he could visualise scenes without ever seeing them.
He perfected techniques, such as bokashi, a form of subtle gradation which enabled his prints to look like miniature paintings.
For Dr Kathleen Olive, Hiroshige’s woodblock prints show the dynamic possibility of working with line, doing a lot with a little, and using a restricted colour palette to produce captivating landscapes and urban scenes.
“The small scale of the works, draws you in and invites questions,” she explained,
“He also displays a sense of humour, a clever use of puns, and was a technical genius.”
Hiroshige’s numerous woodblock prints of snow, rural and urban scenes, and the life of Edo Japan he encountered on his many road trips, were “bold and surprising, especially to the Japanese eye at the time.”
ArtsNational’s next talk on Monday 19 May is titled Women at Work.
For more information, go to www.artsnationalcoffscoast.au.
By Andrea FERRARI
