The artist’s ability to suggest the idea of the ‘floating world’ in Ukiyo-e, floating world pictures, prints is mainly represented by the developing aesthetics of the art form. The aesthetic became popular because of the uniqueness of the depictions; it relayed the traditions of Japan, but also encompassed the “urbanity of the Edo audiences”, “[focusing] on the life of the populace at large… however it is not common life that is represented, but the more rarefied and remote world of highly refined manners”. The first works are polychromatic, with intricate details, and clear linear qualities, following a “simple, unpretentious beauty”. The unifying oeuvre of Ukiyo-e prints is therefore defined as a “simplicity of design… [with a] life like vigour”, creating a revival of tradition. Ukiyo-e is therefore described as not “a place [in art movements, but] … as a concept … generating and maintaining” Japanese ideals, keeping alive tradition, relaying to the idea that the ‘floating world’ is forever. The theme of urbanity is integral to the depiction of the ‘floating world’, as the characteristics of a lot of Japanese art were all about creating a “close accord [that] could be forged between the taste for the decorative…[and] an urbane sympathy for the ordinary…and the banal”. The artists of Ukiyo-e had the challenge of reinventing work into a modernist, Japanese society, whereby its accessibility made ancient histories popular once more; the works have the ability to have relevance through time, allowing for an insight into the pleasures and interests of Japan from the late-sixteenth, to the mid-nineteenth century , and today the art of Ukiyo-e prints is an integral part of the west understanding Japanese tradition and culture, because of this theme of otherworldliness, represented by the ‘floating world’.
The inclusion of “verticality, rhythm, and movement” is the key to Ukiyo-e artist’s depiction of the ‘floating world’. The linear, asymmetrical arrangements of Ukiyo-e, attributed to the use of shallow space, are said to mirror the juxtaposition of the tensions and drama of stories, with the real world; this is best defined by the works that are of “the tragic or glorious heroes of Japanese history and mythology”, and fables. This is the main way in which artists represented the ‘floating world’, bridging the normal every day, with the artistic depictions of the ethereal world, and the mathematical, orthographical precision of the prints is one of the main techniques that pulled mythological Ukiyo into the real world. The compositions followed the Yūgen aesthetics, a mystery and ambiguity, that was “stark… and irregular”, pairing this form with the contemporary entertainments of Geisha and Kabuki making for a rising popularity. The works provided “dimensional constraints”, which created “spacial contexts for the narrative events” of fables, mirroring a sort of theatrical staging in a two-dimensional spacing.
An integral story that depicts this isometric trait well is The Tale of Genji, used often in Ukiyo-e, it is the story of an emperor’s son brought down to a commoner’s social level, mirroring the art of prints becoming accessible to poorer classes, and his experience with love, spirits, and court life. Figure 1 depicts a scene from the aforementioned tale, and what can be noted from this is the harmony that Ukiyo-e artist presented in their work to update it to an urban audience. The scene here has been manipulated insofar as the clothing of the courtesans are dressed in Edo-theatrical costumes, rather than the Heian dress, from which The Tale of Genji was written and often depicted as, from the eleventh century onwards. The framing of the scene in figure one has been drawn out in such a way that the scene appears as a set from a Kabuki performance, using the “floating field convention in which pictoral objects were arranged across an otherwise empty pictoral space”. This is important for three reasons, the first being that it plays on the demographic for the prints of the ‘floating world’, as a sort of advertising, and two, it brings forward the importance of Japanese culture to a generation that was losing access to important cultural heritage; the artist of figure one, the latter, Toyokuni III was a pioneer of Japanese prints, who “monopolized” Genji prints, and made them into a genre of its own. He devised the popularity by teaching others, such as Utagawa Sadahide Gyokuransai , how to produce designs like his, thus keeping alive the theatrics of the ‘floating world’, and its relevance to the Edo people.
The third reason is a perfect insight into the artist’s thought process into creating a ‘floating world’, and how to make it relevant to an Edo audience. The relevance of the spacing to explain the idea of the ‘floating world’ is via the use of empty space. “They allow for, even encourage, the exercise of the viewer’s imagination in interpreting the nature of the relation between the figures in the painting”, creating a sort of dream-like, sensory experiences, allowing all people to enter the world of Ukiyo-e. This is, however, more applicable to the prints created in the Kambun period (figure two), 1661- 1672, some of the first Ukiyo-e depictions of people, which later became the framework for all human subjects in Ukiyo-e.
Single figure representations of courtesans and Geisha’s first became popular in the 1660s, with a rise in figures from mythology and other theatre being popularised. many Kambun works were produced, however little have survived till today, and of those that have, they are typically unsigned. Due to their age, most cannot be exposed harsh lighting due to the fragile nature of the mediums used. figure 2 is a perfect example of how the prints were created to depict “the ideal beauties of the age”. They’re setting on the page is done so in order to create a floating, ethereal quality to the girls, as if they were floating, or apart of the ‘floating world’. The medium of printing onto silk, as with figure two, also worked with this, as the softness of the parchment seemed to lift the beauties off of the page. This is also why the models appear to be moving, or in movement; they are always placed at around a two third’s angle, as if to be dancing or walking gracefully, with their attire swaying freely, as if to suggest life like weather within the print. In figure one, as well as other Kambun works, the figure was slightly embossed, so that they appear on another plane, walking towards, or coming out from the paper.
The tropes featured in Kambun era Ukiyo-e are typically heavily clad women, who were very petite, with exceptionally thin hands and necks. Because their physical frame didn’t change, and the two-third positioning was a standard, the only thing that the artists could do to keep the work relevant was to experiment with the artwork of the kimonos, and the draping of the dress too. In figure two this is seen in the fans on the Kimono, each having a different design, creating more art works within the work as a whole.
Japanese art was lifted from the traditions of monochrome, thick brushwork, like that of Zenga, and transformed with the use of the Wabi aesthetic, encouraging otherworldliness, to create portraits purely for aesthetics, and the pleasure of viewing. In order to create these designs, printmakers would often include different imagery within the kimonos to create nuances; sometimes hana, the flower, would be represented (as in figure one) which indicates rebirth, or literal reproduction. However, another way to lift the prints into a higher plane of art was to gilt the image. This is where the second most important aesthetic in Ukiyo-e comes in, helping to explain the artist’s creation of the ‘floating world’. There were now changes introduced to old prints and additions of gold, silver, copper, and some works had mica pigments, making for a more dramatic and theatrical approach to the preceding calmness of the Japanese arts.
However, this was just during the early stages of Ukiyo-e. Latter artist, seeking inspiration from the old, took these aesthetics and paired them with scenes of literal everyday life, animals and plants, more literary depictions, creating vibrant and dream-like interpretations of the everyday world, bringing it to a ‘floating world’ level. One artist who did this most famously was Katsushika Hokusai. Most famous for his prints of Mount Fuji, he also had a great range of works and inspiration throughout his career. He was inspired by the traditional mathematical precision of Ukiyo-e, and the European simplicity, like that of Dutch prints that were coming through the Deshima port. Whilst his work inclusive of Japanese folklore and theatre was colourful and vibrant, his single figure work, stylistically inspired by the Kambun era Ukiyo-e, was more simple and plain (figure three). It was a true homage to the Wabi aesthetic, or WabiSabi, with a slight “shabbiness” for uniqueness. Here Hokusai has used a simple and elegant line drawing to depict his vision. He has still managed to capture an ethereal nature to this young lady’s demeanor, and allowed for his strokes to create movement, even though the image lacks depth and three-dimensionality. She is modest in face and dress, with the lack of definition and pattern, and then the brushstrokes pose to define this further. Looking at her clothing there is a “rhythmic repetition of curvilinear shapes throughout the composition” and this is how we feel the movement with the work, along with the soft, non-conjoining lines, and the ambiguity of the figure herself we can get a feel for her purity. She is not theatrical, or of high, cosmopolitan fashion, she is a simple muse. It seems as though Hokusai created such works to engage all Edo audiences, no matter their class, as the subjects are brought into the eighteenth century, but use traditional techniques that link all Ukiyo-e work, as well as other Japanese artistic styles, to create an all-round nationalistic art of sorts, in an unpretentious style.