Picture Book: Ogura Hill (Ehon Ogurayama 絵本小倉山) : [volume 1]

Nishikawa, Sukenobu, 1671-1751 · 1749 · Edo : Umehara Yaichirō · 9 pictures

This is a Japanese woodblock picture book printed in Edo in 1749 by Nishikawa Sukenobu, an Edo-period artist, and aimed at a general readership of the period. Its double-page spreads pair finely drawn scenes of courtly and townsfolk life with calligraphic verse set in blank panels, showing the everyday customs of eighteenth-century Japan. A designer could take from them the economical black line, open white space around figures, and the interplay of script and drawing.

Japan -- Social life and customs -- To 1868 -- Pictorial works

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library