1. Choose two prints: one by a Japanese woodblock printer from the lesson and one by a French Impressionist.

Compare and contrast the works of each artist and note some of the influences that can be seen in the work of the Impressionist artist. (You can compare use of color. line, shape. depth, texture, mood or feeling, light/dark variations, subject manner etc.)

(1 )Initial Forum Post

(2) Replies

Read the following on line articles associated with the lesson.

• A Brief History of Monoprints and Monotypes

• The Bohemian vs. the Bureaucrat: Hokusai and Hiroshige

Engraving
• Rembrandt Harmensz Van Rijn (1606-1669) Prints

First Reply
My first painting that I chose was Red Fuji by Kaksushika Hokusai. When I look at this painting there are reds, blues, and greens all showing that these are earth tone colors. The painting shows their point of view at the base of the volcanic mountain. It makes me feel like I'm in the grass looking at the sky enjoying the view. He used short and long lines to show the detail of the clouds I will say. It made me think, is that snow or lava coming down the mountain. I don't know what to think now. Is it about to erupt? Or is the snow melting?

The second one is called LeHavre. Sunset at Low Tide by Eugene Boudin. I chose this one because I love sunsets, plus it caught my eyes. It's bright colors caught my attention. I love how this painting made me feel, it felt as if I was part of the other people in the painting, like I was one of them. I imagined how the sun felt, how the wind was blowing, the sand in my between my toes. You can see the father and son fishing, I imagined the son yelling to the father I caught one lol, you see people in their boats, there is even a man in the water with his rod fishing. The painting itself is relaxing and that is what I think Boudin wanted us to feel while looking at this painting.

https://ukiyo-e.org/image/ohmi/Katsushika_Hokusai-The_Thirty-Six_Views_of_Mt_Fuji-Gaifu_Kaisei-009325-04-12-2008-9325-x2000
http://www.peoples.ru/art/painter/eugene_boudin/boudin_work_200801041725569.r
http://www.wikiart.org/en/eugene-boudin/le-havre-sunset-at-low-tide-1884

Second Reply

The two prints I have chosen are:

Mount Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai and The Floor Scrapers by the French impressionist Gustave Caillebotte.

Hokusai had a long career but he produced most of his important work after the age of 60. His most popular work is the ukiyo-e series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji which was created between 1826-1833. His ukiyo-e transformed the art form from a style portraiture focused on the courtesans and actors popular during the Edo Period in Japan's cities into a much broader style of art that focused on landscaping, plants, and animals. Mount Fuji stem from religious beliefs and it has traditionally been linked with eternal life.

This belief can be traced to the "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter", where goodness deposits the elixir of life on the peak. When we compare and contrast the paints from Hokusai we see that these images were made through a process whereby and image drawn on paper was uses to guide the cutting of a wood block, this block was then covered with ink and applied to paper to create the image. The complexity of Hokusai's images include the wide range of colors that he used, which requires the use of a series of blocks for each of the colors used in the images. The Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji were displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as part of a Hokusai exhibit April 5th through August 9th, 2015.

The Floor Scrapers by Caillebottes it is one of the first paintings to feature the urban working class. This painting shows the perspective of everyday life. This painting in known as a realistic photograph and is consider one of Caillebotte's finest and is used by his admirers to compare him favorably to his contemporaries by citing the realism, rawness an preciseness with which he has depicted the scene. The Floor Scrapers is very well painted, very realistic and very nice. When we compare and contrast The Floor Scrapers we see that one of the aspects in this painting is the use of lighting when you see the light shining from the window. Caillegotte captured the thin curls of wood with such accuracy. He captures realistic moments in this paint by the use of light and the tendency to show brushstrokes is distinctly impressionist.

References:

http://www.katsushikahokusai.org/biography.html

https://learnodo-newtonic.com/10-most-famous-impressionist-paintings

http://www.gustavcaillebotte.org/The-Floor-Scrapers-1875.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-six_Views_of_Mount_Fuji#History