Itchō Picture Album (Itchō gafu 一蝶画譜) : [volume 2]

Hanabusa, Itchō, 1652-1724 · 1770 · Japan : [producer not identified] · 15 pictures

Itchō Picture Album, volume 2, is a Japanese woodblock sketchbook of pictures made by the painter Hanabusa Itchō (1652–1724) and published in Japan in 1770 for amateur painters and general readers. Its pages are open double spreads of loose ink sketches on pale paper, with brief Japanese captions in the margins. The drawings show trees, travellers, and figures in everyday scenes with economical, quick brushwork, and a designer might take from them the way a few confident lines can suggest bark, weather, and posture without any shading.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library