Otsu-E Japanese Popular Imagery

Ôtsu paintings are popular images in a naive style, with a satirical or moral character, that were produced between the 17th and the 19th centuries by anonymous artists, in villages near Ôtsu, not far from Kyoto. They disappeared with Japan’s modernization and only a few hundred managed to be rescued, thanks to collectors. In 1920, a seal engraver, Kusunose Nichinen (1888-1960), concerned about the disappearance of this unique testament of popular culture, decided to make a series of wood engravings, to pass them down to future generations. This particular work collates these 78 colour prints, along with commentaries on their significance and an introduction to their history. It is the first publication in French about this little known Japanese imagery, contemporary with the famous ukiyo-e prints.