Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s artwork titled The Plover Crystal River in Mutsu Province is a 3 piece colored artwork. These pieces are apart of a larger series called The Six Crystal Rivers. These pieces are made from 1847 to 1848. Utagawa had used a popular style of woodblock prints and paintings during the Edo period called ukiyo-e. Although they can be displayed separately on their own, the prints can be put together to form an even larger piece of artwork. These series of prints are 14 inches tall and 30 inches wide when assembled side by side. Individually, the prints are 14 inches by 10 inches. This series currently resides with the Dallas Museum of Art, located in Dallas, Texas.
These prints have five women present by the Plover Jewel River. …show more content…
He uses a small range of blue and orange. It can be seen in the women’s clothings as the outermost layer appears to be made of blue fabric while the layer under it is orange. The color of the river and the water in the buckets have a strong contrast with the shore line, which is a dark and burnt orange-brown, and the buckets themselves. The sun has an orange to white gradient which is shown against the blue to white gradient of the sky. Utagawa’s use of complementary colors is to have a stark contrast in the prints as they help each other stand out, such as the contrast along the horizon to show the clear separation of the sky and water. His choice of these complementary colors also reflect the use of these colors in nature as water and sky is typically depicted to be blue and the sun and shore are usually warm toned colors such as orange or yellow. He also uses different values of color as seen with the gradients in the river, sky, sun and shoreline. The river has the main color of blue as the water closest to the shore and horizon line is presented to more saturated compared to the center of the river which is a more faded and light blue. There is also a difference in values with the buckets the women are carrying. The left buckets have a slight orange tint and as the buckets progress towards the right become more of a vivid orange …show more content…
This japanese art style is wonderfully shown in his The Six Crystal Rivers series with the use of the typical color scheme of reds, oranges, blues and greens. He includes many motifs from the ukiyo-e style such as the beautiful women dressed in kimonos and the natural background with the river and birds. These prints are an excellent representation of the Edo period and it’s art movement during this time in Japan. Ukiyo-e, and woodblock printing in general, has a great importance to the art history of Japan in the 17th century through the 18th century as it has brought many iconic Japanese artwork such as The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Kyobashi
These prints have five women present by the Plover Jewel River. …show more content…
He uses a small range of blue and orange. It can be seen in the women’s clothings as the outermost layer appears to be made of blue fabric while the layer under it is orange. The color of the river and the water in the buckets have a strong contrast with the shore line, which is a dark and burnt orange-brown, and the buckets themselves. The sun has an orange to white gradient which is shown against the blue to white gradient of the sky. Utagawa’s use of complementary colors is to have a stark contrast in the prints as they help each other stand out, such as the contrast along the horizon to show the clear separation of the sky and water. His choice of these complementary colors also reflect the use of these colors in nature as water and sky is typically depicted to be blue and the sun and shore are usually warm toned colors such as orange or yellow. He also uses different values of color as seen with the gradients in the river, sky, sun and shoreline. The river has the main color of blue as the water closest to the shore and horizon line is presented to more saturated compared to the center of the river which is a more faded and light blue. There is also a difference in values with the buckets the women are carrying. The left buckets have a slight orange tint and as the buckets progress towards the right become more of a vivid orange …show more content…
This japanese art style is wonderfully shown in his The Six Crystal Rivers series with the use of the typical color scheme of reds, oranges, blues and greens. He includes many motifs from the ukiyo-e style such as the beautiful women dressed in kimonos and the natural background with the river and birds. These prints are an excellent representation of the Edo period and it’s art movement during this time in Japan. Ukiyo-e, and woodblock printing in general, has a great importance to the art history of Japan in the 17th century through the 18th century as it has brought many iconic Japanese artwork such as The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Kyobashi