Cinema
- Medium:
- Woodblock print on paper
- Source:
- manual-research
Description
The facade of a cinema building, captured in woodblock as a subject of urban modernity by Fujimaki Yoshio. Movie theaters were potent symbols of twentieth-century popular culture in Japan, their illuminated signage and architectural bravado transforming ordinary streetscapes into zones of fantasy and spectacle. Fujimaki depicts the cinema not as mere backdrop but as worthy subject in itself—the marquee lettering, the entrance canopy, perhaps the shadows of waiting moviegoers all composed with the same care that earlier printmakers lavished on temple gates and castle walls. The woodblock medium lends unexpected gravitas to this temple of popular entertainment.
More Prints by Fujimaki Yoshio
More Urban Scenes Prints
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cinema was created by Fujimaki Yoshio (藤牧義夫).
Cinema depicts urban scenes, architecture, and daily life.