America: a Steam Boat in Motion (Amerika koku jōkisha ōrai 亜墨利加国蒸気者往来)
America: a Steam Boat in Motion (Amerika koku jōkisha ōrai 亜墨利加国蒸気者往来)

Currently not on view

America: a Steam Boat in Motion (Amerika koku jōkisha ōrai 亜墨利加国蒸気者往来),

1861 [Man’en 2/Bunkyū 1], 10th month

Utagawa Yoshikazu 歌川芳員, active ca. 1850–1870
Published by Maruya Jinpachi 丸屋甚八 (Marujin, Enjud?)
Japanese
Edo period, 1603–1868
2011-163 a-c

Information

Title
America: a Steam Boat in Motion (Amerika koku jōkisha ōrai 亜墨利加国蒸気者往来)
Dates

1861 [Man’en 2/Bunkyū 1], 10th month

Maker
Utagawa Yoshikazu 歌川芳員
Published by Maruya Jinpachi 丸屋甚八 (Marujin, Enjud?)
Medium
Woodblock print (ōban tate-e triptych); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
37.2 x 74 cm. (14 5/8 x 29 1/8 in.) mount: 42.5 × 78.6 cm (16 3/4 × 30 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, The Anne van Biema Collection Fund
Object Number
2011-163 a-c
Place Made

Asia, Japan

Signatures
Signed: Issen Yoshikazu ga 一川芳員画 (on each sheet)
Description

This print depicts an American steamboat in Yokohama harbor around 1861. The cartouche on the upper right corner reads: the transit of an American steam locomotive; however, it is clear that this is a steamboat from the depictions (notably the large wheel on the right).

The figures are drawn, according to Ann Yonemura’s research, from illustrations of Americans from Western newspaper illustrations (Yonemura, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan, p. 162).

The extensive use of dark shards is a striking feature of this print. Many other Yokohama prints Yoshikazu designed are in bright colors. The dark colors in this print may be making a reference to the arrival of black ships Matthew Perry led in 1853.

Culture
Japanese, American
Period
Edo (Japanese period)
Type
japanese printmaking styles, prints
Materials
oban, color, ink, paper
Techniques
woodcut (process)
Subject
men, travel, flags, night, women, harbors, steamboats, figures (representations)

–2011 Israel Goldman, Japanese Prints (London, United Kingdom), sold to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2011.

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