Japan Ukiyo-e
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of 30 Ukiyo-e prints dating from about 1720 to 1868 which were purchased by Sir William Burrell. This collection contains prints with subject matter based around historical and legendary characters, or the contemporary urban life of actors, beauties and courtesans. There are no landscapes within the collection. Daily amusements, customs, manners, festivals and entertainments of the commoner class became fit subjects for ukiyo-e, as did the illustration of everyday domestic activities, which also appear in this collection. Ukiyo-e was among the most widely known and admired art forms of the Edo period (1603–1867) and most of the famous artists are represented within this collection, including Kunisada, Utamaro, Kuniyoshi, and Hokusai. Ukiyo-e prints were the result of collaboration among artists, block cutters, printers, and publishers who were inspired by 16th and 17th century paintings as well as other sources, such as the Kanô artists and the Nara-e illustrated books and scrolls. Ukiyo-e attempted to adapt these styles into a fashionably modern approach to art. It is likely that the prints in this collection originally formed all or part of the collection of the artist James Abbot McNeill Whistler.
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