Colors in the waterMain MenuAna Drinovanaa7464d947287799e70e60041b3dd733413ebbe0
The Actor Danjûrô V in a Shibaraku Role
12017-04-14T04:40:18-07:00Ana Drinovanaa7464d947287799e70e60041b3dd733413ebbe0156223Katsukawa Shun-ei (1762-1819), ca. 1790. Color woodblock print on paper. Smith College Museum of Art. The kabuki actor pictured was actually made famous for the particular shade of brown that he favored, and so the shade came to be known as "Danjuro brown". Color has especial significance in kabuki, wherein it can be coded to the individual as well as to their symbolic associations.plain2017-04-29T13:48:55-07:00Ana Drinovanaa7464d947287799e70e60041b3dd733413ebbe0
1media/Houitsu Sakai Flowering Plants of Summer and Autumn.png2017-04-13T08:09:11-07:00Colors in the water16An introduction to the project and the websitevisconnections4231742017-04-28T09:37:10-07:00The history of Japanese art spans millennia and colorizes every aspect of life from prehistory to present day.
Some of the most famous eras in Japanese history are those around which art revolves. The Heian period, characterized by a courtly grace and lassitude, was richest in its cultural arts and produced what is hailed as the world's first novel. The Tale of Genji, however, was able to be an especially engaging story as it has never existed as a text in isolation but was rather an artistic production of brightly-colored paper and handwriting so artfully written as to successfully convey the emotion of the narrator. The story itself is an invaluable chronicle of a court in which art and fashion were of the highest importance, color infusing meaning into every interaction with it.
A more immediately recognizable form of Japanese art is the woodblock print in its most popular iteration, ukiyo-e ('pictures of the floating world'). At its peak in the Edo period (1603-1868), ukiyo-e were inexpensive and available in large quantities, so these pictures were able to be owned by anybody who so wished. Typical subjects for ukiyo-e are beautiful views, likenesses of actors, and portraits of women - all of which necessitate high color and invoke their associations.
The art of color in Japan has never been bound to the page, however, and artistry abounds in every sphere where it can exist, where colors codify clothing and ritualize tea ware. The colors of stylistic movements pour out from screens onto boxes and furniture seamlessly.
Click below to start following the blue that manifests in different media in Japanese art, and explore its relationship to other colors and media.