Taito II (fl.1810 - 1853 )
A prolific illustrator, Taito II was born in Edo to a samurai family from Kyushu. He began his artistic education under the great Hokusai, who bestowed his own go “Taito” onto his young student in 1820. Taito II worked closely with his teacher, collaborating with Hokusai on the second Hokusai Manga volume in 1815. Working independently in Edo from 1830 to 1843, Taito II worked in Osaka between 1843 and 1853. Throughout his career, Taito II’s oeuvre spanned ehon (illustrated books), single-sheet prints, and paintings. For a period of time, he began forging Hokusai’s signature, but was found out. Following this incident, Taito II was sometimes called “Inu (Dog) Hokusai” or “Osaka Hokusai”
Japanese Woodblock Prints (1800 - 1868)
By the 19th century, Japanese woodblock prints achieved extraordinary popularity. While the shogunate issued a battery of censorship reforms throughout the 1800s, artists ignored and evaded restrictions with images of indulgent beauties and vibrant kabuki actors. As constraints tightened in the 1840s, bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) became earthier in prints by Eizan and Eisen, while kabuki actors persevered in the work of Kunisada (aka Toyokuni III). During this period, ukiyo-e artists also added landscapes, warriors, ghosts and scenes of everyday life to their oeuvre. Artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige indulged a national wanderlust through Meisho-e or “famous place pictures,” while Kuniyoshi championed musha-e, a genre of warrior and legendary pictures.
