Statue of the Bodhisattva Fugen (Fugenzō)
This is a Japanese woodblock-printed book from 1790 by Kitagawa Utamaro, a catalogue record gives only its title and subject of Japanese social life and customs. Its panoramic spreads show townspeople, travellers and courtiers walking and gathering among pines, hills and cherry trees, drawn in soft muted colours with fine linework. A designer could take from them the wide horizontal layout, the restrained palette of greens, pinks and ochres, and the way figures are scattered across open landscape.
