People of Yamato (Japan) Picture Album (Yamato jinbutsu gafu) : [volume 3]

Yamaguchi, Soken, 1759-1818 · 1799 · Japan : [producer not identified] · 10 pictures

A Japanese woodblock picture album from 1799 by Yamaguchi Soken, one volume of a series depicting the people of Yamato, likely made for a general readership of the period. Its double-page spreads show women and figures in domestic and street settings, drawn in clean black outlines on pale paper with faint grey wash behind the figures. A designer might take from them the economy of line, the sparse interior settings with screens, lattices and stools, and the use of blank space around figures.

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