2011/12/16

Tsuki Hyakushi - 100 Aspects of the Moon


Whore and monk, we sleep
under one roof together,
moon in a field of clover

Bashu






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Tsuki Hyakushi - 100 Aspects of the Moon (1885 - 1892) by Yoshitoshi Tsukioka

The moon was one of the preferred motifs of Yoshitoshi and it can be found in many of his designs. But the moon is not really the leitmotiv of this series. The common bond of all 100 prints is subject to speculation and individual interpretations. Stevenson sees "individuals and their emotions" as the leitmotiv. Scenes from Japan's and partly from China's history and the world of Japanese mythology are the majority of the designs. (source)

Like most of his contemporaries, Yoshitoshi Tsukioka (1839-1892) was fascinated by the world elsewhere, but as the decades passed he became increasingly concerned at how much his countrymen had lost by abandoning their traditions. He therefore took as subjects for his prints stories from Japan’s glorious and colorful past. Though they looked backwards in the sense that they illustrated historical events, Yoshitoshi’s prints were revolutionary in their representation of individual human emotion and in their psychological sensitivity. The supreme example is his last great series of prints, Tsuki hyakushi, One Hundred Aspects of the Moon. (source)


2 comments:

  1. What era? What printing medium? these seem much more modern than mine.

    ReplyDelete
  2. To Anonymous: I found indeed contradicting informations about the era, but it's unquestionably printed in the late 19th Century. And you're right, they look very modern. You can use the links in my post to find more information.

    ReplyDelete

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