beni-e　紅絵

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

A black-line hand-colored woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 that began to be produced after tan-e 丹絵, although of similar technique. *Beni 紅 (a tawny yellow dye extracted from petals of safflowers) was applied to a black print, sumizuri-e 墨摺絵, with the brush instead of *tan 丹, which has is a less delicate pigment. It is said that this method was originated by a printmaker, Izumiya Gonshirou 泉屋権四郎, at the beginning of the Kyouhou 享保 era (1716-36). It once was grouped with *benizuri-e 紅摺絵 an early form of colored print, but these are now considered separately. Among others, Okumura Masanobu 奥村政信 (1686-1764), Nishimura Shigenaga 西村重長 (1693?-1756), and Ishikawa Toyonobu 石川豊信 (1711-85) used this method. The coloring was sometimes used in tandem with lacquered black outline prints *urushi-e 漆絵, in the Kyouhou era. The word beni-e was first used at that time and the technique is seen in pictures by Okumura Masanobu and Nishimura Shigenaga. Color prints using beni are found mostly in the Kyouhou to Houreki 宝暦 eras (1716-64) and are the main technique apart from urushi-e. Few such works survive from later times. Although beni-e precede urushi-e, they are technically very similar and the distinction is sometimes obscure. Today these two are generally distinguished by the use of lustered China ink *sumi 墨, painted with a brush.

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