Okumura Masanobu - Important Pieces

Important Pieces

Okumura Masanobu created many pieces of art work. The ‘Large Perspective Picture of a Second-Floor Parlor in the New Yoshiwara, Looking Toward the Embankment’ is one of his most famous pieces and uses European one-point perspective. This was created during 1745 and made on woodblock with hand colored scenes. The piece shows the inside of a building where many Japanese people are walking around or sitting. Another work of art that closely resembles the first work of art is ‘Large Perspective View of the Interior of Echigo-ya in Suruga-cho’. This was created in the Edo period about 1745, and made with ink on paper on woodblocks. The color used was hand-applied and used nikawa. This picture focuses on the inside on a Japanese building and the actions of many men and women. Masanobu captures the essence of everyday life in his large perspective pieces because they are simply an insight of normal actions through an imaginary see-through wall. Apart from Masanobu’s perspective drawings, he also drew Japanese women. In his piece labeled, ‘Actor as Wakanoura Osana Komachi’ there is a Japanese man holding a book and wearing a long kimono. The man has a ‘boneless’ structure, meaning he has no real body definition to him. This drawing can be found at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. Another drawing that closely resembles the previous drawing is called, ‘Actor Holding Folders.’ This drawing is done with; ink on paper, hand applied coloring, and nikawa. It was also created during the Edo period in 1723 and again follows the ‘boneless’ structure of a human being by only seeing the face and then followed with the long flowing kimono. Masanobu continued this style of drawing people throughout his lifetime1.