Preface 1788

This is a page of calligraphy by Kitagawa Utamaro, made in Japan sometime before 1806. It is an example of woodblock printing. You can see how the flowing lines of the characters are starkly set against the white paper. Utamaro was one of the great masters of the ukiyo-e tradition, which literally means ‘pictures of the floating world’. These prints were originally made for a mass market; images of beautiful women, actors, and landscapes were produced in large numbers, and consumed widely. The process involved teams of skilled artisans. An artist like Utamaro would make the original drawing, which was then painstakingly transferred to a woodblock by carvers. These blocks were then printed by hand, with different blocks used for each color. Knowing the circumstances of this work’s production allows us to appreciate the artistry involved, and to reconsider conventional distinctions between art, craft, and design.