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Introduction

Black on White

Monochromatic Japanese Prints
December 8, 2000 - March 4, 2001

The fully developed art of Japanese color woodblock printing had its roots in a variety of sources, including Buddhist printing and the illustration of printed books. Early ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the 17th and early 18th centuries were executed in black ink only, and their subject matter was often tied to the tradition of illustration from which they were evolving. Even after artists were able to produce “brocade pictures” (nishiki-e) from numerous color blocks, their interest in black ink as a medium for depiction nevertheless remained.

Selected Objects

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Kawanabe Kyōsai

White Heron in the Rain (Uchu sagi), 1880s
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Japanese, Japan Tokyo

Moon and Bamboo, 1800s
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Kawanabe Kyōsai

Crow on branch, ca. 1880's
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Utagawa Hiroshige

Fudesute Peak, Yaso Segawa River, Sakanoshita, 1850's
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Toyohiro Utagawa

Hawk attacking goose, late 1820's ?
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Jukusai

Small Bird and Plum (descriptive), 1840's
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Toyohiro Utagawa

Cuckoo in Rain, 1810's
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Utagawa Hiroshige

From an untitled series of ishizuri-e harimaze-e, ca. 1850's
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Japanese, Japan Tokyo

Cranes and pines, 1810's
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Okumura Masanobu

Horses, 1710's
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Sawa Sekkyo

Two Cranes and Pine, ca. 1790's
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Okumura Masanobu

Falcon tethered to perch, 1710's
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Torii Kiyomitsu I

Cranes, pine, plum and moon, 1760's
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Japanese, Japan Tokyo

The geisha Okura and Wakamurasaki, ca. 1730's
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After Kaigestsudo Dohan

Courtesan, 1916.10
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Yosa Buson

Rock ptarmigans and pine (Matsu ni raicho), 1810's
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Yosa Buson

Rock ptarmigans and pine (Matsu ni raicho), 1810's

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Black on White : Monochromatic Japanese Prints

December 8, 2000 - March 4, 2001
View Checklist PDF

RISD Museum

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