JAPANESE XYLOGRAPHY AT NATIONAL GALLERY

Those who are fond of fine art, have another chance to see the art works by the masters of Raising Sun and get close to the philosophy and lifestyle of Japanese people and their land, which is so close and at the same time so far away from our reality...

Utagawa School Company directed by Tadashi Goino (the artistic name-Utagawa Syokoku) represented Ukiyo-E collection of the xylography in National gallery of Armenia for the first time in 1994.

 Ukiyo-E Japanese xylogaraphy, created and developed in the 17-18th centuries, is a special form of art in the world culture.  By their works, the masters of Ukiyo-E xylography create the poetry of daily life. The aesthetic value of daily life was expressed directly in the name, which is coming from Buddhist terminology, where that word was used to describe the secular life of humanity. The word was used in the new direction in 1682.

The portrait and later also the landscape became the main themes of the new artistic direction, which got the name Ukiyo-E, i.e. images of everyday world. The creation of everyday life image gave the Ukiyo-E painters the opportunity to enter the culture of simple people, into the sphere of its aesthetic looks, it also helped them take the nature, traditions and rituals in a new way. It was to rediscover the characters of poets, historical figures, actors as well as the beauty of everyday occupations, tenderness of motherhood and the nuance of entertainment.