A History of Japanese Woodblock Prints (Ukiyo-e)

FAIN: FA-55577-10

Cynthea Jean Bogel
University of Washington (Seattle, WA 98195-1016)

Ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo and Meiji periods (1615-1868; 1868-1912), are perhaps the most popular and most studied of any single genre within Japanese visual culture, yet there is no single book that presents the diverse cultural context for ukiyo-e, nor a book suitable for use in university courses as the primary guide to a study of ukiyo-e. I will develop an illustrated book with unprecedented emphasis on the relationships between visual culture and literature, content and audience reception (then and now), and the politics of image production in early modern Japan. The research and writing will take place in the U.S., U.K., and Japan. Existing literature comprises museum catalogues and artist monographs, not an overall survey. My book will fill a need recognized in the field for a theoretically and methodologically informed discussion of modern print culture, and break ground with the weaving of themes and historiography with traditional considerations of artists.