Surimono catalogue FINAL WEB.pdf - Sanders of Oxford

Surimono is the name given to a type of privately published Japanese
woodblock print that became especially popular in the first third of the
nineteenth century. Literally meaning “printed object”, surimono can refer
to text, pictures, or frequently, a combination of the two. The word was
first recorded as early as 1094 but it wasn’t until the1760s that the term
began to be applied to a new form of woodblock print: that which was
privately commissioned and published in limited editions. Experiemental
and elaborately printed, surimono were designed by the leading ukiyoe
artists of the day and amateurs alike, often to commemorate special
occasions such as the New Year, and distributed amongst friends and
associates.
The surimono tradition of privately distributed woodblock prints can be
split into two distinctions: publications to announce or commemorate
events such as musical performances or national holidays, and
publications which combined image and verse, often commissioned
by poetry societies. The images were used to illustrate the seventeen
syllable haiku or the thirty-one syllable kyōka, enriching the verse with
visual context and vice versa. Although trimmed off in some cases, text
also features in announcement surimono, and is one of the elements that
sets this tradition apart from commercially published woodblock prints.
The advent of surimono in the 18 th century coincided with major
advances in colour printing in Japan and surimomo artists were able to
take full advantage, experimenting with new pigments and techniques.
Artists designing surimono did not operate under the same constraints
as designers of commercial prints, and having only the wishes of
the commissioner to restrict them, these works were often produced
as deluxe prints with an abundant use of gold and silver pigments,
delicate and complicated colour palettes, elaborate embossing and
complicated designs. Printed on hōsho, a thick, often unsized, paper, the
smaller shikishiban format used for surimomo was particularly suited to
embossing and absorbing pigments. This enabled artists to apply more
complicated techniques than in larger prints where colour had to cover a
larger area or the paper was harder.
Unrestricted by commercial demands, privately published surimono
allowed the artist to explore a wider range of subject matter. Surimono
designers often pioneered subject matter that found its way into
commercial prints later. For example, such works often depicted women
engaging in domestic activities associated with the New Year. The “still
life” flourished in surimono design while being neglected in standard