This is a white sheet of paper with black lettering. They typeface lettering identifies the artists and titles of the works. The handwritten lettering has signatures of the artists, date and edition numbers.
Label Copy
Gallery Rotation Fall 2011
Ian Burn
Australia, 1938–1993
Mel Ramsden
England, b. 1944
Six Negatives
1968–69
Photo-mechanical reproduction
Gift of Joan Meisel, 2002/2.118.1–2002/2.11.15
Ian Burn and Mel Ramsden were members of the loosely connected British collective Art & Language. The group, like the Conceptual Art movement of which it was a part, emerged in the late 1960s and emphasized the exploration of ideas over the creation of traditional art objects. The work produced by Art & Language was largely text-based and made frequent allusions to philosophy and linguistics. The emphasis on ideas rather than artists or objects led to the development of an aesthetic based on systems of administration. For Six Negatives, Burn and Ramsden wanted to eliminate the signs of their separate identities or individual hands and express a corporate, impersonal identity that would encourage the viewer to focus on the concepts presented. Using the organizational framework of Roget’s Thesaurus, they set out to create a six-part classification system for the examination of ideas. The resulting diagrams and text were photographically reproduced and are displayed in their negative form.
Art & Language expanded to include other international artists and produced numerous joint works as well as a journal of the same name before collapsing under the strain of infighting in 1979.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This is a white sheet of paper with black lettering. They typeface lettering identifies the artists and titles of the works. The handwritten lettering has signatures of the artists, date and edition numbers.
Label Copy
Gallery Rotation Fall 2011
Ian Burn
Australia, 1938–1993
Mel Ramsden
England, b. 1944
Six Negatives
1968–69
Photo-mechanical reproduction
Gift of Joan Meisel, 2002/2.118.1–2002/2.11.15
Ian Burn and Mel Ramsden were members of the loosely connected British collective Art & Language. The group, like the Conceptual Art movement of which it was a part, emerged in the late 1960s and emphasized the exploration of ideas over the creation of traditional art objects. The work produced by Art & Language was largely text-based and made frequent allusions to philosophy and linguistics. The emphasis on ideas rather than artists or objects led to the development of an aesthetic based on systems of administration. For Six Negatives, Burn and Ramsden wanted to eliminate the signs of their separate identities or individual hands and express a corporate, impersonal identity that would encourage the viewer to focus on the concepts presented. Using the organizational framework of Roget’s Thesaurus, they set out to create a six-part classification system for the examination of ideas. The resulting diagrams and text were photographically reproduced and are displayed in their negative form.
Art & Language expanded to include other international artists and produced numerous joint works as well as a journal of the same name before collapsing under the strain of infighting in 1979.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Signed and edition, in pencil, l.r.: Graham Sutherland 1 26/100 Signed and dated, in stone, l.l.: Sutherland Nov. 10, 1957 (in reverse) Watermark: Arches
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Utamaro owed his greatest artistic debt to Kiyonaga (1752–1815). He added a strong element of eroticism and an intuitive grasp of female psychology to Kiyonaga’s graceful, lifelike portrayals of women. Like Harunobu, Utamaro was a great master of ukiyo-e in the portrayal of femininity and love, but the two had different approaches. In addition to his figure studies of women, Utamaro also drew landscapes, birds, animals, and flower studies, and a large number of book illustrations. (MW)
He had numerous pupils and followers who may be classed as the Toriyama school, taking the name from Toriyama Skiyen, the teacher of Utamaro. Many prints signed Utamaro are undoubtedly the work of his pupils, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them.
This narrow print was designed as an advertisement to be posted on a pillar. It shows the grand courtesan of the Matsubaya Tea House accompanied by her young attendant.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Harunobu was a major ukiyo-e print artist. Although his role in the technical development of full-color prints has often been exaggerated, there is no doubt that he ranks among the greatest geniuses of Japanese woodblock print artists. He is said to have studied first under Shigenaga (ca. 1697–1756), but his early prints are in the Torii and Toyonobu manner. He designed a few actor prints in his youth, but shunned them as soon as he had reached his maturity. Instead, he turned his brush to the portrayal of dainty women. Most of his prints are a small, almost square, half-plate size, and are the earliest examples in which background is introduced.
By 1762, Harunobu had already developed his unique style, which was soon to dominate the ukiyo-e world. Two years later, he was commissioned to execute a number of designs for calendar prints for the coming year. Various noted literati of Edo contributed designs and ideas, and the printers outdid themselves to produce technically unusual work. From this combination of talents was born the nishiki-e (brocade picture) or full-color print; formerly only two or three colors had been featured. These prints were issued at New Year, 1765. The designs are a bit harsher than the more supple work of Harunobu’s maturity, but we can already see here the spirit of parody and lyricism that was to characterize his later work.
Though we know nothing about Harunobu’s formal education, he was certainly one of the most literate ukiyo-e designers. On many of his prints, verses and design are wedded in a happy combination seldom seen before or after. But whatever the literary or legendary implications of Harunobu’s prints, it is their color and their wonderful ideal of femininity, their great beauty and charm, that remain in the viewer’s mind after all else is forgotten.
Harunobu was a master of the "pillar print," a tall and narrow format that first appeared in the late 1760s to decorate the slender wooden pillars of the typical residential interior. Here he fills the lower half of the frame with a single female figure, engaged enigmatically in the act of lacing a hawking gauntlet to her forearm. (In Japan, hawking was a sport for males of the warrior class, not a game for pampered daughters of urban merchants. This intent young girl is thus crossing lines of both gender and class.) Though the colors have faded, we can still appreciate innovative touches like the way the wood grain of the block is used as part of a textile pattern.
Cross-dressing or gender-bending behavior in Harunobu’s prints is usually the sign of a mitate, a clever allusion to a classical story. Part of the pleasure for contemporary viewers was to decipher the visual pun. Unfortunately, these layers of meaning are often lost to us today.
M. Graybill
"Courtesans, Cross-Dressers, and the Girl Next Door Images of the Feminine in Japanese Popular Prints"
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Though Kiyonaga was the fourth head of the Torii school, he very early in his artistic career abandoned the traditional actor-print favored by that school. It was in him, his immediate followers, and his contemporaries that the color print reached its highest level of excellence. It is also in Kiyonaga’s work that we see the portraiture of women raised to its most elegant refinement, equaled only by Katsukawa Shuncho (active ca. 1780-–1795).
Kiyonaga was also the first to develop the three- and five-sheet print into a single design. Though frequently each sheet is noticeably complete in itself and can be shown as a separate unit, the full effect of the artist’s intention is apparent only in the whole composition.
This print belongs to a series depicting the leisure-time occupations of the upper classes. Inside the precincts of a shrine in the first lunar month of the year; a young woman and a courtesan pause before a vendor selling potted plants including plum trees and adonis (fukujuso) symbolizing happiness and longevity. Behind the women, a boy looks in dismay at the broken thong of his slipper, adding to the realistic impression of the work.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Though Kiyonaga was the fourth head of the Torii school, he very early in his artistic career abandoned the traditional actor-print favored by that school. It was in him, his immediate followers, and his contemporaries that the color print reached its highest level of excellence. It is also in Kiyonaga’s work that we see the portraiture of women raised to its most elegant refinement, equaled only by Katsukawa Shuncho (active ca. 1780-–1795).
Kiyonaga was also the first to develop the three- and five-sheet print into a single design. Though frequently each sheet is noticeably complete in itself and can be shown as a separate unit, the full effect of the artist’s intention is apparent only in the whole composition.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Koryûsai was one of the few artist sof the ukiyo-e school to come from the samurai (warrior) class. His early works of the 1769s are much influenced by the work of Suzuki Harunobu, but even then distinguished by a more ironic wit. He is especially well known for his pillar prints and shunga (erotica). In the 1770s, his style changed to depict a more massive feminine type, with the new hairstyles and costumes of the era. In the 1780s, Koryusai abandoned popular prints and devoted himself to production of the more prestigious ukiyo-e paintings.
This print is half of a famous pair of images made for celebrating the New Year. A young woman in a fashionable plaid kimono is shown walking along with one hand coyly placed at her cheek, while in the other hand she carries a basket of the delicious round eggplants of Suruga province. Mt. Fuji, a hawk, and and eggplants are considered the "three auspicious emblems" for New Year's Day, because of a punning phrase: hatsu yume fujitaka nasu, which can be rendered as "May the first dream of the new year (hatsu yume) be (nasu) of unsurpassed greatness (fujitaka).
The tall narrow format is typical of the so-called pillar print (Japanese, hashira-e): these prints were often tacked or pasted to walls, and so rarely survive in good condition. This particular example is quite dark from overexposure to light in the past.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Koryûsai was one of the few artist sof the ukiyo-e school to come from the samurai (warrior) class. His early works of the 1769s are much influenced by the work of Suzuki Harunobu, but even then distinguished by a more ironic wit. He is especially well known for his pillar prints and shunga (erotica). In the 1770s, his style changed to depict a more massive feminine type, with the new hairstyles and costumes of the era. In the 1780s, Koryusai abandoned popular prints and devoted himself to production of the more prestigious ukiyo-e paintings.
The inscription names the adult woman as Chôzan, the head courtesan of the Chôjiya Tea House, and two child attendants, Sakura and Chikashi (?). However, only one child is visible in the print, suggesting that it may have originally been part of a diptych. Like most pillar prints, this one is extremely burned from long exposure to light.
M. Graybill, Senior Curator of Asian Art, January 2002
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Koryûsai was one of the few artist sof the ukiyo-e school to come from the samurai (warrior) class. His early works of the 1769s are much influenced by the work of Suzuki Harunobu, but even then distinguished by a more ironic wit. He is especially well known for his pillar prints and shunga (erotica). In the 1770s, his style changed to depict a more massive feminine type, with the new hairstyles and costumes of the era. In the 1780s, Koryusai abandoned popular prints and devoted himself to production of the more prestigious ukiyo-e paintings.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Eizan was the son of Kikugawa Eiji, a Kanô-style painter and maker of fans. He first studied painting from his father, and later fron the literati artist Suzuki Nanrei. His paintings show a strong Kanô influence, as well as close study of the work of Utamarô and Hokusai. From the early 1800s until he retired in about 1830, he was a leading designer of bijinga; he also did actor prints and erotica.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Eizan was the son of Kikugawa Eiji, a Kanô-style painter and maker of fans. He first studied painting from his father, and later fron the literati artist Suzuki Nanrei. His paintings show a strong Kanô influence, as well as close study of the work of Utamarô and Hokusai. From the early 1800s until he retired in about 1830, he was a leading designer of bijinga; he also did actor prints and erotica.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Eizan was the son of Kikugawa Eiji, a Kanô-style painter and maker of fans. He first studied painting from his father, and later fron the literati artist Suzuki Nanrei. His paintings show a strong Kanô influence, as well as close study of the work of Utamarô and Hokusai. From the early 1800s until he retired in about 1830, he was a leading designer of bijinga; he also did actor prints and erotica.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Studio names: Ichirakusai, Ichirakutei. An ukiyo e printmaker who studied with Hosoda Eishi, an leading genre artist of the late 18th century. Eisui is perhaps best known as a book illustrator, with the latest works dating to 1823. In single-sheet prints, he excelled in the ôkubi e ("big head pictures") of beautiful young women.
In 1798–99, Kitagawa Utamaro did a magnificent series of prints of famous historical and fictional lovers, entitled "True Feelings Compared: The Founts of True Love" (Jitsu kurabe iro no minakami ). Close on the heels of that success, Ichirakutei Eisui issued his own series, which closely mimics Utamaro’s "big head" close-up format, and with the same cast of characters. The pair shown here, Shirokiya Okoma and Obana Saizaburô, were star-crossed lovers whose tale first appeared on the kabuki stage in 1775.
After they had been forcefully separated, the once-prosperous Saizaburô was reduced to being a hairdresser.
This print represents the rare occasion where the spin-off surpasses the original. In Utamaro’s version, Okoma crouches before Saizaburô, pleading with him to "speak no more of their love." In Eisui’s reworking of the theme, she stands over him, clearly the more resolved and resourceful of the two. She uses her own hairpin to adjust his coiffure, in a gesture that is both delicate and intimate.
M. Graybill
"Courtesans, Cross-Dressers, and the Girl Next Door Images of the Feminine in Japanese Popular Prints"
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Though Kiyonaga was the fourth head of the Torii school, he very early in his artistic career abandoned the traditional actor-print favored by that school. It was in him, his immediate followers, and his contemporaries that the color print reached its highest level of excellence. It is also in Kiyonaga’s work that we see the portraiture of women raised to its most elegant refinement, equaled only by Katsukawa Shuncho (active ca. 1780-–1795).
Kiyonaga was also the first to develop the three- and five-sheet print into a single design. Though frequently each sheet is noticeably complete in itself and can be shown as a separate unit, the full effect of the artist’s intention is apparent only in the whole composition.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Though Kiyonaga was the fourth head of the Torii school, he very early in his artistic career abandoned the traditional actor-print favored by that school. It was in him, his immediate followers, and his contemporaries that the color print reached its highest level of excellence. It is also in Kiyonaga’s work that we see the portraiture of women raised to its most elegant refinement, equaled only by Katsukawa Shuncho (active ca. 1780-–1795).
Kiyonaga was also the first to develop the three- and five-sheet print into a single design. Though frequently each sheet is noticeably complete in itself and can be shown as a separate unit, the full effect of the artist’s intention is apparent only in the whole composition.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Living in the city of Edo, Shunsho was a leading ukiyo-e painter, print artist and illustrator. Little is known about his personal life. He turned to the print medium around 1767. At first much influenced by Harunobu, his greatest contribution came with his prints of actors, which soon overshadowed the hitherto dominant Torii school. Though not a startling innovator, Shunsho ranks with Kiyonobu and Sharaku in his influence on the way in which kabuki was depicted. He taught many pupils, including the great landscape ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. All of these followers with “Shun” in their names (Hokusai changed his later), are usually grouped as the Katsukawa school.
Shunsho devoted his final years more to paintings than to popular prints. A considerable number of his paintings are extant, usually of genre scenes peopled with bijin (Japanese beauty).
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Utamaro owed his greatest artistic debt to Kiyonaga (1752–1815). He added a strong element of eroticism and an intuitive grasp of female psychology to Kiyonaga’s graceful, lifelike portrayals of women. Like Harunobu, Utamaro was a great master of ukiyo-e in the portrayal of femininity and love, but the two had different approaches. In addition to his figure studies of women, Utamaro also drew landscapes, birds, animals, and flower studies, and a large number of book illustrations. (MW)
He had numerous pupils and followers who may be classed as the Toriyama school, taking the name from Toriyama Skiyen, the teacher of Utamaro. Many prints signed Utamaro are undoubtedly the work of his pupils, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Eizan was the son of Kikugawa Eiji, a Kanô-style painter and maker of fans. He first studied painting from his father, and later fron the literati artist Suzuki Nanrei. His paintings show a strong Kanô influence, as well as close study of the work of Utamarô and Hokusai. From the early 1800s until he retired in about 1830, he was a leading designer of bijinga; he also did actor prints and erotica.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Harunobu was a major ukiyo-e print artist. Although his role in the technical development of full-color prints has often been exaggerated, there is no doubt that he ranks among the greatest geniuses of Japanese woodblock print artists. He is said to have studied first under Shigenaga (ca. 1697–1756), but his early prints are in the Torii and Toyonobu manner. He designed a few actor prints in his youth, but shunned them as soon as he had reached his maturity. Instead, he turned his brush to the portrayal of dainty women. Most of his prints are a small, almost square, half-plate size, and are the earliest examples in which background is introduced.
By 1762, Harunobu had already developed his unique style, which was soon to dominate the ukiyo-e world. Two years later, he was commissioned to execute a number of designs for calendar prints for the coming year. Various noted literati of Edo contributed designs and ideas, and the printers outdid themselves to produce technically unusual work. From this combination of talents was born the nishiki-e (brocade picture) or full-color print; formerly only two or three colors had been featured. These prints were issued at New Year, 1765. The designs are a bit harsher than the more supple work of Harunobu’s maturity, but we can already see here the spirit of parody and lyricism that was to characterize his later work.
Though we know nothing about Harunobu’s formal education, he was certainly one of the most literate ukiyo-e designers. On many of his prints, verses and design are wedded in a happy combination seldom seen before or after. But whatever the literary or legendary implications of Harunobu’s prints, it is their color and their wonderful ideal of femininity, their great beauty and charm, that remain in the viewer’s mind after all else is forgotten.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
