Studio: international art (26.1902)

Reviews

place at Kronstadt is one of the most pleasing of
his works. H. W. S.

MONTREAL.—The Montreal Branch of
the Women's Art Association of Canada
is now holding its second Exhibition
of Arts and Handicrafts, this time
confining itself to those arts more especially adapted
for production in the home.

The association aims at conserving and improv-
ing such crafts as spinning, weaving, dyeing, fine
needlework, pillow - lace making, needle - point,
basketry, etc., and hopes to prevent the rapidly-
declining Indian arts from disappearing altogether
—a loss the importance of which is as yet scarcely
realised.

The exhibition was planned with the idea of
inaugurating this branch of the work of the associa-
tion, and it has met with signal success, some really
fine specimens of lace, leather-work, china-paint-
ing, and wood-carving being shown. Among the
Indian exhibits there were some truly beautiful and
effective pieces of bead-work, designed and exe-
cuted by squaws in remote parts of the Dominion.
They showed a great superiority in both design
and colour over the work done nearer to civilisa-
tion, where natural taste has been influenced by
the demand for cheap imitations. The associa-
tion hopes to be able to gratify the present keen
desire for bead ornaments, chains, belts, etc.,
by ordering a quantity of such things from the
Indian reserves, thereby encouraging the Indian
women in habits of industry, and at the same time
helping to preserve a beautiful art.

It is expected that all branches of the association
will help on this work by opening establishments
for the disposal of home productions, thus encourag-
ing the country people in a practical way.

REVIEWS.

An Outline of the History of the Ukiyo-ye. By
Ernest F. Fenollosa. (Tokio: Bunshichi
Kobayashi. San Francisco : Vickery, Atkins &
Torrey.)—Since the appearance of the late Pro-
fessor W. Anderson's excellent catalogue of
Japanese colour prints no work upon this sub-
ject has been produced which is so informing and
valuable to the student as 1 his truly sumptuous
volume. Although dealing avowedly with the
Ukiyo-ye, or popular school of pictures, and there-
fore not confined to works executed in chromo-

xylography, probably the main interest of the book
will be found in the remarks which the author
makes regarding the colour prints of the eighteenth
century. The progress of the art is carefully
described by him from the black outline prints
coloured by hand which he traces back to about
the year 1670, or the time of Hishigawa Moronobu.
From the years 1715 to 1742 the urushi-ye, or
"lacquer pictures,'' became common. In these
black lacquer and colours were also applied by hand.
Other varieties of painted prints existed, called
tan-ye and beni-ye, from the red colours used to
tint certain details of the prints. At a later period
the printing of colours from wood blocks was
commenced, and for some time two blocks only
were used in addition to the black one, the colours
usually employed being pink and green. About
r758 a third colour block was added, the prevailing
colours being red, blue, and yellow—green being
produced by the superimposition of the yellow
upon the blue. In 1765 Harunobu introduced a
range of tones each printed from separate blocks,
which was a decided advance in the art. " Instead
of red, green, and blue, he chose soft flat tones of
greys and olives for his backgrounds of sky, water,
earth, or wall—backgrounds which had heretofore
been left of the white paper. This was an important
step toward pictorial effect; it gave atmosphere, and
made every area of the design enter into the colour
symphony. Against these grounds he then threw
up his figures in stronger tints, each having a
separate block to secure its exact value—figures
and groups which elaborated the finest charm of
his earlier line illustrations. In this way he pro-
duced what soon became celebrated throughout
the provinces as Yedo nishiki-ye, or brocade paint-
ing." Harunobu's pupils carried on the work of
their master; and Haruhiro, better known as
Koriusai, painted in the master's style for about
ten years after Harunobu's death. Of the develop-
ments of the art under Shunsho, Kiyonaga,
Utamaro, Hokusai, and others, we must refer our
readers to Professor Fenollosa's valuable essay.
Of the twenty magnificently printed illustrations,
all reproduced in Japan from wood blocks in the
style of the originals, we have nothing but the
highest praise. When such examples are compared
as Plate 5 by Kiyonobu, in which pink, gretn,
and black are employed, with Plate 6 by Kiyomitsu,
red, blue, yellow, and black; and Plate 8 by
Harunobu, with its ten separate printings—some
idea of the remarkable development and ultimate
perfection of the art may be obtained. The book
is one which should be in every public art library

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