Early "Brocade" prints

It took about hundred years until Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770)created the multi-color brocade prints called "nishiki-e."

The "Nishiki-e" prints appeared during the early Meiwa era (1764-1779) when the muti-colored prints were used for calendar pictures called "e-goyomi." Harunobu worked for the designs for the "e-goyomi" and became well-known as the founder of "Nishiki-e."

"Nishiki-e" were made by repeated application of colored woodblocks to the page, until a fully multi-colored image was built up. Harunobu expressed beautiful young men and women in full color and with great detail.



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