Page:Brinkley - The Art of Japan, vol. 1.djvu/61

Rh for vigour, for versatility, for tenderness, for truth of line, and for beauty of colour harmonies.

After Hiroshige—whose landscapes are among the finest pictures of the chromo-xylographic gallery,—nothing good was produced. Indeed the era of decadence had set in long before Hiroshige designed his last prints (1855), though the end was postponed by several admirable artists. At one time (1842), and that not by any means the golden age of the art, the Yedo Government, in a mood of economy, deemed it necessary to issue a sumptuary law prohibiting the sale of various kinds of chromo-xylographs—single sheet pictures of actors, danseuses, and “dames of the green chamber;” pictures in series of three sheets or upwards, and pictures in the printing of which more than seven blocks were used. The prohibition held for twelve years only, but it certainly contributed to hasten the decadence which had already begun. As to that decadence, not much need be said. Its features force themselves upon the attention of the most superficial student. From the exquisite pictures of Utamaro, Hironaga, Harunobu, and their rivals to the meritless, meretricious work of later artists, there is an immense interval in quality though a brief interval of years. It would be a misconception to assume, however, that the ability to produce beautiful chromo-xylographs has been lost. It is there still, as was recently proved by a notable revival with which the names of Ogata Gekko, Watanabe Seitei, Kiyōsai, and Kansai were connected. But the art has been vulgarized. The coloured print has become chiefly a child’s toy. Artists can no longer afford to superintend the technical processes of its production, and cheap, flaring, violent pigments imported from abroad have taken the place of the delicate, rich and costly colours of old Japan.

One of the facts which the student of the Far East soon learns to expect is that Occidental precedents must be reversed to suit Japanese methods. In Europe or America the engraver, even though a copyist, must be a skilled draughtsman: must be able to