Yoshiiku (1833 - 1904 )
Yoshiiku was a popular ukiyo-e printmaker during the Meiji period. It is thought that he was the son of a tea house proprietor, hence his particular skill success in the portrayal of various beauties from teahouses and restaurants. Yet, he was an artist comfortable across subject matter and is recognized for his fierce portrayal of famous historical warriors. Yoshiiku was a student of Kuniyoshi and a contemporary rival of the famed Yoshitoshi. He signed his name Utagawa Yoshiiku, Ikkeisai Yoshiiku and Chokaro Yoshiiku. Beyond ukiyo-e, the woodblock printing process was used for newspaper illustrations before the introduction of photography. He worked as an illustrator for both the Tokyo Daily News and the Tokyo Illustrated News. Yoshiiku's prints can be found in the Brooklyn Museum, The Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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.
3 Products
Yoshiiku
Leopards in the Roles of Matsuomaru and Genba
JPR-208806
Yoshiiku
Murota Kageyu-jikan Yoshitaka (Kuroda Yoshitaka)
JPR-209575
