Yoshitora (fl. c.1850 - 1880 )
Yoshitora Utagawa lived and worked in Edo during the 19th century. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown. He was an important pupil of Kuniyoshi. Yoshitora Utagawa worked in many different genres, from actor portraits to cityscapes of Tokyo, but he is best known for his warrior prints and Yokohama prints. With the Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854, Japan opened to American trade at Yokohama. Yokohama-e present Japan's early impression of the Westerners arriving in this port city. Yoshitora was a leading designer of these prints, revealing the appearance and inventions of these foreigners. In addition, he produced prints of foreign scenes, based not on personal observation, but derived from Western engravings. Today, Yoshitora Utagawa's art can be found in such celebrated collections as the British Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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.
12 Products
Yoshitora
COMPLETE SERIES: The Story of the Faithful Samurai in The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers
JPR-211142
Yoshitora
Sendaihagi: Nikki Danjo at Yamana-ke Mansion
JPR1-52054
Yoshitora
The Syllable Ri: Kaiga Yazaemon Fujiwara no Tomonobu
JPR-208647
Yoshitora
The Actor Bando Mitsugoro as Shindozaemon's Daughter Yushide
JPR-208254
Yoshitora
Minamoto no Yoshitsune Crossing the Sea to Ezo
JPR1-52052
Yoshitora
Miyamoto Musashi Fights Sasaki Ganryu at Ganryujima in Kyushu
JP1-63544
Yoshitora
The Battle of Narumi in the Former Taiheiki of the K™hei Era
JPR-109834