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Furansu ōminato shokoku kōeki no zu Title: Picture of Trade with Many Nations in a Large French Port Artist: Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) 1866:4 Format: Woodblock print Medium: Ink and color on paper Dimensions: triptych: 35.9 x72 cm (14 1/8 x28 5/16 in.) Source: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Harmonious and carefully executed coloring and delicate draftsmanship distinguish this composition by Yoshitoshi. In keeping with the foreign theme, even the title is enclosed in an appropriately ornamental frame with the characters symmetrically disposed. The figures in the foreground wear a variety of costumes, some of which are similar to those in other Yokohama prints while others appear to be based on European dress of an earlier date. Large steamships, one billowing trails of smoke, float lightly on the horizon line. Unlike the imposing ships of early Yokohama prints, these seem elegant and graceful. The composition of the print, with the pier jutting into the bay at the left and western figures on the shoreline looking toward the ships in the harbor, echoes that of many Yokohama prints. Yoshitoshi's successful assimilation of principles of Western art has produced, however, a dreamlike vision expressed in a visual language borrowed from the West. [Adapted from Ann Yonemura, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan] Visualizing Cultures image number: Y0167 Keywords: France, ships,Westerners, steamships, FrenchWestern cities, art influences from the West |
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