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- 5 the fifth period from 1860 to the final downfall of the ukiyo-e print in the late nineteenth century.
We can trace the development of these five phases by briefly examining the careers of the better known artists.
Isawa Matabei is often called the father of ukiyo-e. Although Matabei and his immediate followers never made any prints, he originated a style of painting known as ukiyo-e which became popular in the seventeenth century. Matabei studied the Tosa and Kano painting schools and developed his own realistic style of depicting scenes from classical literature and everyday experiences.
The first artists to apply the new ukiyo-e style to the process of woodblock printing were Hishikawa Moronobu (d. 1694) and the Kam- bun Master (a cognomen given by Richard Lane to Moronobu�s anonymous mentor who worked from about 1661 to 1673). The Kambun Master never signed his work, and his prints were often thought to be the early work of Moronobu himself. However, there seems to be some basis for believing that such a Master actually existed.
In the past, Moronobu has usually received credit for producing the first ukiyo-e print. He is sometimes dubbed the founder of ukiyo-e because he consolidated the various styles of genre painting to formulate the ukiyo-e school. His superb compositions and simple controlled brushstrokes were ideally suited to the woodblock medium, and he was able for the first time to produce large numbers of prints in black and white at low cost. These prints are called sumizuri-e meaning �pictures printed in black.�
Moronobu looked to the lively goings-on in the Yoshiwara area of Tokyo as spicy material for his prints, of which many surviving examples are erotic in nature. He remained the most pre�eminent and prolific print artist and book illustrator in the country until his death in 1694.
This great master of early ukiyo-e had a tremendous influence on his contemporaries and on the artists of succeeding generations. Moronobu�s best pupils included Moroshige, Morofusa and Tomofusa, but their output appears to have been limited and the line died out. However, Moronobu�s prints also greatly influenced the work of the very productive and
ukiyo-e parce que les artistes exp�rimentaient souvent l�alliage de la perspective occidentale et du style oriental. L�utilisation de la perspec�tive occidentale est probablement provenue d�abord de l�importation de gravures sur bois chinoises, ayant d�j� subi l�influence occi�dentale, et ensuite de l�introduction au Japon d�oeuvres d�art europ�ennes par les com�mer�ants hollandais.
La quatri�me cat�gorie d�estampe ukiyo-e s�inspirait des th�mes historiques et l�gen�daires tir�s de la riche culture du Japon. Le Japon aune histoire extraordinaire de guerres apparemment sans fin, d��pisodes o� joue le code d�honneur unique au Japon, qui exige la fid�lit� ultime et le devoir de prendre vengeance. De tels �v�nements sanglants ont inspir� beaucoup d�artistes xylographes. Les th�mes historiques les plus fr�quents traitaient des guerres civiles m�di�vales entre les deux clans dominants, les Minamoto et les Taira; l�histoire des fr�res Soga, qui ont veng� la mort de leur p�re; et Chushingura, l�histoire c�l�bre des quarante-sept ronin (samourai sans ma�tre) qui, tout en sachant que leur propre mort s�ensuivrait, ont fait preuve de fid�lit� ultime envers leur ma�tre d�c�d� par un vendetta sur la personne de son bourreau.
Les th�mes l�gendaires des estampes ukiyo- e comprenaient des h�ros mythiques, tels que les Sept Dieux du bonheur; Kannon, la d�esse de la mis�ricorde; Daruma, le fondateur du bouddhisme Zen; Shoki, le dompteur de d�mons; et Kintaro, le petit Hercules de la mythologie japonaise, entre autres. Les sujets surnaturels englobaient toute une vari�t� de fant�mes, de d�mons, de monstres et d�ap�paritions. La superstition dominait une grande partie du folklore campagnard du Japon. Les fant�mes les plus redoutables �taient les esprits femelles obs�d�s par la jalousie.
De ses d�buts jusqu�� environ 1860, l��cole ukiyo-e a d� compter en tout environ trois cents artistes. (Voir le tableau des artistes les mieux connus.)
Historiquement parlant, l��cole ukiyo-e peut �tre divis�e grosso modo en cinq �tapes:
1 la p�riode primitive, depuis la fondation de l��cole par Matabei jusqu�� l�invention de l�estampe polychrome par Harunobu (ca 1765);
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