five ukiyo-e ink brush drawings on paper

The ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") genre of art flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries. Ukiyo-e artists produced woodblock prints and paintings depicting samurai, beautiful courtesans, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, history, folk tales, travel in romantic landscapes, flora, fauna and erotica. The Floating World, as the pleasure districts of Edo (modern day Tokyo) were called, describes the sensory pleasures of urban life, but also offers a bittersweet reminder of the fleeting nature of all worldly delights. Some of the greatest Japanese artists of the time—Ando Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Toyokuni III, and Keisai Eisen among them—became known primarily as woodblock print designers in the ukiyo-e style. Their work had a profound impact on European artists around this time—its flattened perspective and innovative compositions inspired artists such as Mary Cassatt, Vincent Van Gogh, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as the Japonisme movement in art and design.

Here are five original ink-brush drawings in the ukiyo-e style. It is a reinterpretation divergent from a simple pastiche in that the historical ukiyo-e images were never done in simple black and white.

samurai at rest
samurai with fan
samurai with playful ghost
samurai with spear
the warlord

superblack India ink on various weights of all-wood sketch paper: a textured-surface, cold-press paper with anti-microbial agents (for protection against environmental acids)

8 x 10 inches each

packaged in a clear sleeve with lightweight archival board

… Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating, floating; … refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call the floating world…
~ Asai Ryoi

Singlemindedness is all-powerful.
~ Tsunetomo Yamamoto

At the moment of victory, tighten the straps of your helmet.
~ Tokugawa Ieyasu

meant for framing, to be displayed as a series

a wonderful gift for the Japanophile or fan of Asian art

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