The Golden Age of Colour Prints

‘The Golden Age of Colour Prints’ draws together an exquisite selection of 96 Japanese prints from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, never before displayed in Australia. Vivid imagery, technical sophistication and a remarkable affinity with some of the most iconic movements in art history mark the importance of this collection to the artworld, and particularly, to the town of Shepparton, who plays host to an exhibition of both national and international significance.

The so-called ‘Golden Age’ of nishiki-e, or colour printing, between 1781 and 1801, is the focal period of Shepparton Art Museum’s display. It is concentrated on the work of those who are historically considered to be three of the most significant Japanese artists; Torii Kiyonaga, Kitagawa Utamaro and Tōshashūsai Sharaku, as well as a range of their contemporaries, exemplars of the practice of ukiyo-e printing. Ukiyo-e, meaning ‘pictures of the floating world,’ is a genre of woodblock prints and paintings produced in Japan in the period between 17th and 20th centuries. The prints feature such motifs as landscapes, historical folklore, geisha, kabuki and courtesans.

It is difficult not to view this collection through glasses tinted with historical grandeur. The knowledge that you are viewing a moment in art history that was so influential over some of the most significant western art movements to follow is something to consider, all the while appreciating the intrinsic value of this snapshot in time – and a snapshot it was. French Impressionism, Art Nouveau and Pop Art, as well as contemporary manga comics and anime can all claim ukiyo-e ancestry in some form or another. As Manet’s Olympia was scorned for its ‘unfinished’ aesthetic and ‘inappropriate’ subject matter, these prints were also considered crude and unsophisticated in their time, for their focus on theatre and pleasure, before becoming wildly popular in Tokyo in the latter part of the 17th century.

So striking in these images is their design aesthetic; the flat plane immediacy of the figures brings into focus the isolated process in which they were created, away from the modelled perfection of the Dutch masters and French baroque. And yet, so much of what was to come is evident in these pictures. Monet once mused that “In the West what we admired most of all was this bold way of cropping images; these people taught us to compose differently”. With minimal strokes, Sharaku is able to capture the intensity of the Actor Ichikawa Omezō as the Manservant Ippei, the animated expression of the figure presenting a powerful lesson in design. Somewhat contrasting are prints such as Toyokuni’s The Chofu Jewel River, with such delicacy and intricacy of line, and dynamic gesture.

To accompany the exhibition, Shepparton will be presenting a series of Japanese-themed artistic workshops, tutorials, talks, tours and tea ceremonies, including a talk by Joan Wright, Conservator of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A result of Director Kirsten Paisley’s visit to Shepparton’s sister city Toyoake, staging this exhibition is a huge achievement for Shepparton Art Museum, and for Shepparton, who tentatively but enthusiastically, takes its first step onto the international stage.

Shepparton Art Museum
7 March to 2 June 2013
Victoria