Lovers Walking in the Snow (Crow and Heron) by Suzuki Harunobu

1764–72 / Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper, with embossing / 11 1/4”x8 1/8” / The Met

Courtesan Senri Receiving a Love Letter

Suzuki Harunobu (1725?-1770) “played a pivotal role in the evolution of Japanese printmaking during its great period — the last half of the i8th and the first years of the 19th century. In the final years of his relatively brief life, he opened up a new dimension of expression in that tradition of graphics by introducing many colors to what had essentially been a mono-chromatic art form”. ~archive.org

A Woman Sweeping up Her Love Letters

“Just 20 years previously, the invention of benizuri-e had made it possible to print in three or four colors; Harunobu applied tis new technique to ukiyo-e prints using up to ten different colors on a single sheet of paper. Harunobu was the first ukiyo-e artist to consistently use more than three colors in each print.” ~Wikipedia

A Caged Bird and a Love Letter

“Harunobu died in 1770, only five years after introducing the nishiki-e print. However, in those last few years of his life, he produced over one thousand print designs, chiefly depictions of willowy young girls, and also a fair percentage of shunga (erotic prints), as most ukiyo-e artists did. He is known to have produced at least seven shunga volumes.”~samuraipodcast.com

Suzuki Harunobu / ukiyo-e.org
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