Ukiyo-e And Art Nouveau

            
             Ukiyo-e means "pictures of the floating world". In 1603 through 1867, Ukiyo-e defined an art movement of the Tokuguawa period, it was the final phase of traditional Japanese history, and also a time of cultural arts. Ukiyo-e mixed influences from decrorative design and traditional picture scrolls. Mainly used in the entertainment district of Edo, the subjects that were used ranged from actors to royalty to even prostitutes.
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             Ukiyo-e artists quickly embraced the woodblock print. Japanese were collaberated between the publisher, the artist, the block cutter, and the printer. The publisher financed and directed the work. The artist supplied a separate drawing for each color, which were glued onto the woodblocks, with the white areas cut away, destroying the original artwork. Once all the blocks were cut, they would move onto the printing process using water-based ink. .
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             Okumura Masanobu was one of the first artists to move from hand-coloring single-color woodcuts to two-color. He experimented with embossing, unusual inks, and the application of gold and silver dust sprinkled like glitter over a mixture of ink and glue. He mainly portrayed beautiful women, which landed Utamaro in jail for three days in 1804 for depicting the wife and concubines of deposed military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and was also forced to wear handcuffs for fifty days. Utamaro died at the age of fifty-three two years later.
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             Ando Hiroshige was the last great master of the Japanese woodcut. His ability to capture the landscape inspired European Impressionists. Hiroshige died in 1858 from a cholera epidemic brought about by the collision of Asian and European cultures.
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             Art Nouveau.
             Art Nouveau was an international decorative stile that thrived for about twenty years. It was found in graphics, fashions, furniture, architecture, and product design. It's reaches affected all aspects of the man-made environment including posters, packages, dishes, subway entrances, advertisements door frames, houses, chairs, staircases, and much more.