Japan

During the Edo Period (1603-1868), Japan turned its gaze away from foreign influence and looked inward. This prosperous, peaceful society led to prolific cultural activity. Similar to the Renaissance in Europe, the Edo period was a time of growth and advancement in art, literature, and other areas that lasted into the Taisho Era (1912-1926).

The art of Japan before the Edo Period focused on serene subjects, such as Buddhist monks on the cusp of enlightenment, but the people of Edo Japan wanted pictures of dashing actors and beautiful geishas on their walls in much the same way that we buy posters of our favorite movie stars or rock bands.

One popular form of art that developed was woodblock prints, or ukiyo-e, which means "picture of floating world." Prints were produced through the close collaboration of artist, carver, and printer. The completed objects were beautifully colored prints of actors and courtesans, which were inexpensive and mass produced to bring art to people of all social classes.

Woman Holding a Tray was created several decades after the end of the Edo Period during the Taisho Era, but it still shows the influence of both periods by portraying a beautiful young woman gazing serenely off in the distance. During the Edo Period many people believed enlightenment was reached through beauty and pleasure instead of constant meditation and discipline. Prints of women grew more widely accepted during the Taisho Era, when Japan became more open and liberal.

Woman Holding a Tray, 1920
Goyo Hashiguchi, Japanese (1880-1921)

Color woodblock print
15 3/4 inches H; 10 1/2 inches W
Purchase from Museum of Art Endowment Fund
2007.003.005

World Events

1700 Ukiyo-e becomes popular.

1912 Taisho Democracy begins in Japan.

1919 Prohibition in United States.

1922 Japanese Communist party founded.

1924 "Surrealist Manifesto" published.


DARCY DISCUSSES: THE ARTIST

Though Goyo Hashiguchi was an active artist just after the Edo Period, he was renowned for his ukiyo-e prints and was praised for his sensitive and graceful portrayal of women through his mastery of line and composition.

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