Suzuki Harunobu

Japanese artist

• Born: 1725?
• Birthplace: Edo (now Tokyo), Japan
• Died: 1770
• Place of death: Edo (now Tokyo), Japan

Suzuki Harunobu is believed to be the creator of color woodblock printing in Japan, revolutionizing the ukiyo-e school of popular printmaking, which had previously produced monochrome prints. The new color prints, originally known as nishiki-e, soon replaced the monochrome prints so completely that they were popularly regarded as the standard ukiyo-e form.

Early Life

There are no records to document the early life of Suzuki Harunobu (sooz-oohk-ee harh-oo-noh-boo), but it is believed that he was born in the city of Edo, where he spent his entire life. He may have begun his artistic career as a student of Nishimura Shigenaga (1697-1756), an ukiyo-e (pictures of the Floating World) artist in the Kanda district of Edo. Few works remain by Nishimura, but some of those that do remain are monochrome prints with added red coloring, and they have some affinities with Harunobu’s own early style. Harunobu’s portraits of women are also believed to be influenced by the sensitive portrayals of women by the Kyoto printmaker Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671-1751).

Life’s Work

During Suzuki Harunobu’s early years, ukiyo-e prints were most often made up of simply black ink on white paper, with additional painted colors added by hand if desired. Harunobu experimented with an early form of two-color print known as benizuri-e, or “crimson-print pictures,” in which both red and black ink, or green and red ink, were used to make the actual print. There is a surviving 1766 series of benizuri-e two-color prints with his signature, depicting episodes from the life of the famous classical poet Ono no Komachi (c. 833-857) but using contemporary settings. One of the prints is printed on coated paper, and its gray coating provided the illusion that the print uses three colors rather than just two.

Though Harunobu created these two-color prints and also made book illustrations using the same technique, he is best known for his introduction of the multicolor prints known as nishiki-e. The color-printing techniques that he perfected continued to be used until Western techniques were adopted late in the nineteenth century. It should be remembered, however, that woodblock carvers and the artisans who actually made the physical prints also were involved in discovering and perfecting some of the techniques attributed to Harunobu.

Harunobu also was known for an artistic approach known as mitate, or “visual likening,” whereby he often would create compositions of contemporary notables or scenes posed to resemble those in earlier classical compositions, even traditional compositions in Chinese art. Harunobu also reversed the process at times, depicting episodes from the life of poet Ono no Komachi but with the figures in the pictures wearing styles of clothes from Harunobu’s own time.

Harunobu also tended to use his compositions for multiple purposes. The Komachi series appeared, for example, as pictures in a calendar, as separate signed prints, as separate unsigned prints, and as prints inscribed with Komachi’s poems. When made in this way, with multiple compositions, Harunobu’s work is easier to authenticate. It should be noted that Harunobu was already regarded as an eminent artist in his own lifetime, so after his death many reproductions of his work, and possibly forgeries as well, were made under his name. In addition, extant work attributed to him is distributed widely but thinly throughout the world, even into the twenty-first century. Scholars trying to do comparative internal studies of his prints to find common authenticating features have been hindered by difficulties in viewing enough prints. Consequently, the authenticity of any work attributed to him cannot always be confirmed.

In addition to making calendars for public sale for Edo publishers, Harunobu produced other types of work in return for quite lucrative private commissions. These included New Year’s cards and gift calendars for private groups to send to friends or group members. Because of this work, Harunobu came in contact with groups of Edo poets and intellectuals and became widely respected among such circles. He was so respected that he was invited to become a member of one of the circles, eventually becoming the group’s leader.

Harunobu also created prints of well-known actors and courtesans, creating also a separate body of erotic prints known as shunga, or “springtime pictures.” These print styles, though not to everyone’s taste, are generally replicated by many other artists, though in a more refined manner than shunga. Harunobu sometimes gave less prominence to the erotic elements than to other elements of his prints, so the eroticism occasionally seems almost incidental. Harunobu’s shunga are highly regarded by both Japanese and Western art historians, and they have been the subject of much specialized research.

Harunobu’s breakthrough in making multicolor prints is generally dated to between 1760 and 1765, though he was still making two-color prints in 1766. A famous multicolor print signed by Harunobu, dated by scholars to the Meiwa era (1764-1772), depicts Osen, a noted beauty of the time, busy in her capacity as the hostess of the Kagiya, a fashionable and exclusive teahouse in Edo. In this print, in which the predominant colors are varying shades of red, yellow, black, brown, green, and gray, Osen is shown dressed very conservatively, demurely bringing a cup of tea on a small tray to a samurai in a black cloak and wearing two swords. This print served as an advertisement for Osen and her business, and at the same time it was a significant source of revenue for Harunobu. Many people had heard of Osen, but most had never met or seen her, and so they bought copies of the print instead. The print was the equivalent of a modern publicity photo of a star, but in place of a star’s autograph is Harunobu’s well-known signature.

Harunobu died at the age of forty-five, in 1770, though the exact cause of death is unclear. He was very productive, however, and had created more than one thousand different works of art during his lifetime, approximately seven hundred of which were prints. He was a well-respected celebrity in his own time, and his groundbreaking multicolor prints had the enthusiastic reception they deserved from his contemporaries. Their sensitivity and refinement won them a permanent place in Japanese art history, and they were among the Japanese prints that first won admiration among art critics and collectors in Europe, one century after Harunobu first created them.

Significance

Popularly regarded as the first ukiyo-e printmaker to introduce the full use of color, Suzuki Harunobu created color prints, especially his bijinga portraits of women, at a level of artistry and sophistication matched only by a few later ukiyo-e masters. Harunobu surpassed contemporaries using color print techniques, such as his student Isoda Koryusai. Another student, Shiba Kokan, created a unique new blend of Japanese and Western art.

Harunobu left behind a large opus of outstanding color prints, which have influenced printmakers for generations. His tasteful portrayals of popular themes gained him a special position in Edo society and acceptance in literary and intellectual circles, raising the status of ukiyo-e prints to that of a true art form.

His graceful use of line and subtle color harmonies, often combined with erotic themes, had a special appeal for later European connoisseurs, who created a taste for Japanese prints like his among the general Western public. Though some of his contemporaries used similar themes and techniques, Harunobu had a unique combination of talent, industry and savoir faire that made him the leading ukiyo-e artist among his Edo contemporaries and among subsequent generations in Japan and the West.

Bibliography

Hayakawa, Monta. The Shunga of Suzuki Harunobu: Mitate-e and Sexuality in Edo. Kyoto, Japan: Nichibunken International Research Center for Japanese Studies, 2001. A scholarly study of the sociological aspects of Harunobu’s erotic art by a Japanese authority.

Hillier, J. Japanese Colour Prints. Oxford, England: Phaidon Press, 1993. A general account of the development of color ukiyo-e prints by a recognized authority on Harunobu.

Kanada, Margaret Miller. Colour Woodblock Printmaking: The Traditional Method of Ukiyo-e. Tokyo: Shufunotomo, 1992. A valuable description of ukiyo-e prints from the perspective of actual printmaking techniques.

Klompmakers, Inge. Japanese Erotic Prints: Shunga by Harunobu and Koryusai. Amsterdam: Hotei, 2001. An analysis of the erotic aspects of Harunobu’s art and of the art of Isoda Koryusai, a contemporary, whose prints originally were mistaken for works by Harunobu.

Kondo, Ichitaro. Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770). Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1957. A popular general account of the life and work of Harunobu.

Newland, Amy, ed. The Commercial and Cultural Climate of Japanese Printmaking. Hotei Academic European Studies on Japan 2. Amsterdam: Hotei, 2004. A scholarly study of the socioeconomic aspects of ukiyo-e printmaking. Unique account of the social and economic conditions under which ukiyo-e artists such as Harunobu created their works.

Takahashi, Seiichiro. Masterworks of Ukiyo-e: Harunobu. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1968. A standard popular monograph on general aspects of Harunobu and his work.

Waterhouse, D. Harunobu and His Age: The Development of Colour Printing in Japan. London: British Museum, 1964. A full-scale, detailed study of Harunobu and his work, with numerous illustrations.