Yesterday evening I went with Divya and Sarah to an opening at the Carleton Art Gallery. The show was “Chikanobu: Modernity and Nostalgia in Japanese Prints,” and it traced the work of Yoshu Chikanobu, a prolific print maker during the Meiji period of late 19th century Japan. The event was very well attended, likely do in part to the presence of free sushi, but the prints were also quite striking.

Before the opening, there was a lecture by Bruce Coats, a professor from Scripps College who organized the show. The talk ran for almost two hours, but it was nice to get some background on the printmaking industry during the period. I thought it was particularly interesting that it really was an industry. While I realize that artists need to eat, I still haven’t disabused myself of the image of a solitary master working for a rich patron. The Meiji print makers, on the other hand, had to cut deals with woodcarvers and publishers, and often chose their subject matter based on what was in style. Chikanobu made a number of prints detailing women’s fashion at the time, for instance, and he even started using English in some of his work when he realized he could sell it to tourists.

Many of the prints depicted current events, and would have come out with newspapers. Since the artists were rarely at the actual event, the details were entirely fictional. Apparently Chikanobu was particularly good at drawing battles, since had been a samurai before becoming an artist. While we have certainly gained something by having access to actual pictures of current events, we may have lost some of the wonderful artistry and design that the Meiji print makers used to depict historic events.

(Image from artelino)