Fuel Your Illustration » history

Ukiyo-e: The Floating World

Nikki Jeske — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:14:38 +0000

I’m going to start out by saying I have never been to Japan. In fact, I’ve never been to any part of Asia. IN FACT, I have never been outside of the United States. Yes, I know, it’s tragic. Thankfully, I have the internet (and awesome worldly friends), and I’ve been introduced to some really fantastic cultures, and in that turn, some really remarkable art techniques.

Ukiyo-e: The Floating World

One of these is Ukiyo-e, which, roughly translated, means “pictures of the floating world.” It was an art form in Japan in which artists printed amazingly detailed pictures on blocks of wood. The subjects of the paintings ranged from city life to mountain landscapes to ocean scenes. They were meant to show the beauty of the world around us. This technique was developed in the 17th century and became popular with townspeople who were not rich enough to own original paintings. Woodprints were easy and fast to make, taking one painting and making hundreds of prints. Because of this, they were mass-produced, so much so that soon there were far too many of them and their popularity waned. They were considered so worthless, in fact, that the Japanese began to use them as packing materials on ships. It wasn’t long before prints found their way outside the country and the rest of the world became aware of their existence.

European artists were in awe of the paintings. Impressionists like Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet were greatly inspired by the artwork, and the influence of the Ukiyo-e art form was given a name: Japonisme. Though the rest of the world had embraced it, traditional Ukiyo-e died out in the early 1900s, and despite attempts to resurrect it, it has never hit the popularity it had once enjoyed.

I own several different paper prints of traditional Ukiyo-e images, but have never had the opporunity to see an actual woodprint of one. Are there any art forms that you admire but are no longer around? I’d love to hear about them! Feel free to share. For now, enjoy some of my favorite Ukiyo-e prints. For more information about Ukiyo-e, please visit The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum and the very informative Ukiyo-e wiki page.

Clicking on any image will bring you to the Wiki page for the artist. Enjoy!

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Ukiyo-e: The Floating World

Happy Turkey

Alex Eben Meyer — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:08:52 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there in internet-landia.
(turkey by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (b. 1707) via www.vintageprintable.com)

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Library of Congress: “My Sweet Doggie”

Alex Eben Meyer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Once again, we have been inspired by the images from the Library of Congress. While our previous interest was with photos of pushball scrimmages, the LOC has better grouped their images, and added a set of cover pages from the New York Tribune illustrated supplements. Starting at the beginning of the 20th century, these supplements give a taste of newspaper illustration a hundred years ago.

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Library of Congress: “My Sweet Doggie”

1960’s Illustration: Freedom, Peace and Flower Power

Martina Skender — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:00:05 +0000

The 1960’s were an exciting, revolutionary, turbulent time of great social change. The young and enthusiastic everywhere were questioning and experimenting everything; authorities, corporations, drugs. People were high, and so were the posters.

In America, hippies dreamed of a world full of love peace, and sharing. The Beatles were heard everywhere. Dylan began. Students were the driving force, effecting politics through peaceful demonstrations and colorful decorations.

The illustration scene was highlighted by much improved color printing. Drawing was freed from the constraints of realistic representation, and fantastic imagery flourished. Photography enriched texts, Illustrations combining graphic art and collage became a standard.

The counter culture of the 1960’s produced various independently published and distributed underground papers.

But the revolution that did happen in the 60’s wasn’t as a result of protests or manifests, but due to a technological development. The invention of the birth control pill led to a feminist assault on the old order. The Pill was first available only for married ladies who had enough children, but very quickly spread and became popular also amongst single women –who just wanted it have fun, without worrying about traditional pregnancy burden that was until the sixties forever placed on their backs.

Finally, they got a chance to fearlessly enjoy sexual experiences. The 1960s heralded a new culture of “free love” with millions of young people embracing the hippie ethos and preaching the power of love and the beauty of sex as a natural part of ordinary life.

Advertisement became more sophisticated, sometimes even taking an artistic approach. Ads in the late sixties were brightly colored, wavy and mystical, as seen earlier on the hippies’ painted Volkswagen. Posters portrayed a flowery gentle counterculture.

60’s illustrated books for children were at times as crazy as the decade itself. New York born Maurice Sendak published “Where the Wild Things Are” (1963), a story made of ten sentences only, displaying a surreal and menacing world of make-believe creatures.

The 1960’s offered a new kind of picture book, in which the illustrations dominate the text. Brian Wildsmith – a legendary author-illustrator from Yorkshire, England – made expressive use of intense, shiny colors for many works.

American Eric Carle introduced a new style of illustrations. His 1967 classic “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” included bright, bold collages – made from painted tissue – and has since been a preschool favorite.

The world seemed to have shrunk in the 1960s. For the first time, transcontinental and even intercontinental travel became easy and efficient. Advances in transportation and in communication, the two pillars of commerce, started turning the world into a global village.

By the ended of the eventful decade much of the optimism had gone out, especially in the US. The endless Vietnam War – along with a growing Cold War and a volatile economy plagued by inflation and tax increases – changed the atmosphere. A new and more rational age was coming to stage.

Sources:

Image Credits:

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1960’s Illustration: Freedom, Peace and Flower Power

1950’s Illustration: When Mass Media Met Pop Culture

Martina Skender — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:00:36 +0000

A Short Overview of Illustrations From the Age When Mass Media Met Pop Culture

Welcome to the wonderful world of the 1950’s illustration. It is filled with illusion, abundance, naiveness and optimism. In no other time in history has illustration been so incorporated into the society – representing and defining it’s ways and norms – as it was in the 1950’s.

Illustrations were everywhere; on books, and magazines, and billboards. They covered food and beverage packing, they were even on Television. The 1950’s were a Golden Era of Illustration.

The 50’s in the United States were a time of constant expanding of advertising and media tools, and illustration became a common and popular method of transferring ideas. But the 50’s illustrations are about more than just selling brands. They offer a story. They reveal the decade’s political, economical and social events.

Life in the 1950’s was simple and comfortable. And for those who rode on top of the the wave of the rising middle class – even luxurious.

Following the end of WWII western economies bloomed, and consumerism began to spread. During the 50’s the average salary in the USA went up by 50%, a middle class arouse, credit card was introduced, babies were booming all around, a good future was there for everyone.

Men were supporting their families working long hours in office job. Finally, they could afford to own a car.

Housewives were still nice and polite smiling happily while following the on box recipes from the newly introduced out of the box products, cleaning their new all electric house and trying to stay fit and with the latest fashion.

In a decade marked by economical growth, there were many new brands and products that came to life.

Big Depression was over, WWII ended, and people were living a new kind of life, which meant treating your self good.

Increased leasure time lead to fast food restaurants and outdoor cinemas spreading everywhere.

Everyone seemed to live a dream come true – happy and content.

To this ideal world there was just one threat. An invisible yet deeply threatening Cold war was over everyone’s heads. Still, all worked hard to maintain the illusion of a dream come true reality.

For having more than their basic needs taken care off – people started searching for more, looking up in the skies. Soviet Satellite Sputnik Launched Space Age.

Following the evolving of mass media – popular culture was created.

It was all about radio, jukebox, drive in movies and TV.

1956 belonged entirely to “The King”. Mass media helped Elvis become the first pop culture product to become a global icon.

The motion picture industry took over showbiz. By 1958, there were more than 5,000 drive-in’s in the U.S. More than 10.5 million US homes had a TV set.

Young people wanted new and exciting symbols of rebellion and Hollywood responded. Anti-hero’s like Marlon Brando took on the role, and sexy non conformist anti-heroines like Marilyn Monroe added excitement.

Illustrators were a necessary assets in the advertising industry, in the Movies-TV industry, and even around the news desks in the leading newspaper.

Extremely fruitful was the field of children’s illustration, characterised by flat characters, use of bright colors, expanded color palettes and basically no 3 dimensional space.

Theodor Seuss Geisel – better known under the pen name Dr. Seuss – might be considered the most famous illustrators of his time. After drawing political cartoons during WWII, Geisel returned to children’s books. In 1955 he published his most known book – The Cat in the Hat – based on simplified vocabulary accompanied by distinct drawing style, verse rhythms and incredible imaginative power.

Mary Blair began working for Disney in 1934. Rather than faithfully reproducing the old illustrators Mary used a new approach – flat color, complementary contrast and various color shades creating her own, widely recognisable world. Her illustrations are poetry and we still read them with ease and excitement as they in the 50’s did.

At the beginning of his career Art Seiden did corporate and advertising work for some of the largest companies in America. However, his unique style expressed mainly through use of transparent watercolours and gouache showed to be the biggest match on children’s book illustration. Seiden illustrated over 300 books.

It would be impossible to conclude the 50’s without the famous Pin Up girls. According to Great American Pin Up Gallery ‘Every business, restaurant, theatre, club and locker room was decorated with these beauties.’ They offer a new fresh view on sexual freedoms that were evolving at the time.

We just love Fifties illustration. It brings us into some other time, a time where it all started – consumerism, fast food, liberate sex. A naive world created by innovative people who believed in a better future.

Sources:

todaysinspiration.blogspot.com
animationarchive.org
loti.com
fiftiesweb.com
flicker.com – Big thanks to all the people who uploaded this wonderful material!
thepeoplehistory.com
chickenhead.com
plan59.com
ffffound.com
greatamericanpinup.com
wikipedia.org

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1950’s Illustration: When Mass Media Met Pop Culture