Okumura Masanobu - Artist Intro

Each month I will take an in depth look into the work of a Shunga artist. This month I have chosen OkumuraMasanobu.

Masanobu (the family name being Okumura) was thought to be born in Edo (modern day Tokyo) sometime around 1686 and passed away 13 March 1764 approx. 78 years old and was a print designer, book publisher and painter. A lot of his early life was never documented. Masanobu attended the Torii school (鳥居派, -ha) which was a school of ukiyo-e painting and printing founded in Edo, founded by the Torii Clan. His work generally adhered to the Torii style however later he did drift.
Masanobu taught himself how to paint by studying various other Shunga artists for example Torii Kiyonobu (died 1729). His paintings depicted scenes in stores, theatres and living quarters and were usually large. He is also attributed with the invention of the hashira-e and uki-e and who may have been the first to change from hand colouring to colour printing

Signatures and Seals

Hôgetsudô shômei Okumura Bunkaku Masanobu shôhitsu (with seal: Tanchôsai)

Masanobu's work included Buddhist subjects, birds and flowers with his own individual style; flowing lines and tall thin figures and beautiful women. His earliest work was referred to as the Courtesan Album (depicting courtesans in the Yoshiwara pleasure district) which was published in 1701 in which he reworked a series of prints that had been designed by Torii Kiyonobu (1664-1729) the previous year. In the years following, Masanobu produced a number of albums and illustrated books retelling classic Chinese tales in a light hearted way, the Genji monogatari, and stories from Noh and kabuki plays. In the 1720s, he took the then unusual step of opening his own publishing house. This gave him greater creative control over his work, and allowed him to keep the lion's share of the profits from prints he designed.

WORKS INCLUDE:

• The most highly regarded shunga set: Someiro no yama neya no hinagata, “Mountains of Dyed Colours, Examples of Bedrooms.” Published c. 1735 Format: Oban 12 prints.
• Nudes of the Innumerable Secret Loves of Shidoken (c1720) Format:ko-orijo 12 prints
• Sexy Robes of the Bed Chamber ca1711-16 Format:Handscroll
• Love in the Three Capitals, ca1710-15 Format: oban yoko-e 12 prints.

"A Day in the Gay Quarters"
The customer who is smoking a cigarette in the center is a mature man with a lady f pleasure on his right, he likes her and she like the young dandie on the left. This leaves us with what will happen next!!

A couple more images from this album can be seen here and I will have a look at the full series in the near future.

Some of Masanobu's other works;

Woman Holding a Young Man's Hand, from an untitled series of Yoshiwara scenes with poems

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okumura_Masanobu
https://ukiyo-e.org/artist/okumura-masanobu
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/masanobu_okumura.html
Museum of Fine Arts Boston http://www.mfa.org