Unsigned / Unknown Artist (1600 - Present)
There are some works that arrive in our collection by unknown artists, while there are others that may lack a signature, but can be attributed to a known artist after careful research. Certain genres, such as Meiji-period photography and shunga (erotic prints) frequently fall into this second category. It is difficult to identify early photographers because photography studios did not include credits in souvenir albums, many of which featured numerous photographers. In addition, photographers often bought the negatives of others and reproduced them as a part of their own portfolio. When attempting to make attributions, photographs with no credits are compared to the few that have attributions. Turning to shunga, nearly all ukiyo-e artists produced erotic prints, yet these prints are often unsigned to avoid trouble with the law. For these works, attributions are generally made based on stylistic analysis.
Meiji Photography
Following the Meiji Restoration, photographs became almost as popular as woodblock prints. By the 1890s, there were well over 800 professional photography studios in Japan, primarily situated in the port towns of Yokohama and Nagasaki, but also rapidly expanding to the major urban center of Tokyo. Photographers of this period often echoed traditional pictorial subjects from painting and ukiyo-e, but were also inventive and artistic. Subjects ranged from studio photography of beautiful women and urban scenes of shopkeepers, rickshaws, and peddlers, to natural wonders such as Mt. Fuji in the mist, cherry blossoms and temples. Ronin Gallery is pleased to open up a portal into the real and imagined world of modern Japan with our collection of Meiji-period photography. These images of traditional Japan still hold the same magic as they did when the world first saw them more than a century before.
34 Products
Unsigned / Unknown Artist
Portrait of Seated Japanese Woman
JPR-111882
Unsigned / Unknown Artist
Wisteria at Nikko Kaido 500 Years Old Cobere 4000 Square Feet Blossoms...
JP-94266