Description
Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
Title: Looking Feminine-The Appearance of a Castle Toppler of the Tempo Era
Circa: 1888
Size: Oban 9.55″ x 14″
Series: Fuzoku sanjuniso – Thirty-two aspects of daily life (Customs and Manners)
Condition: Museum quality giclee on washi paper
Description: Castle-Toppler was a poetic term for a high ranking courtesan. The name referred to the way rulers can be beguiled by beautiful women to forget the affairs of state, with catastrophic results.
Yoshitoshi – The undisputed master of Meiji (1868-1912) period art. Yoshitoshi’s woodcuts are now ranked beside those of Hiroshige, Hokusai and his former master, Kuniyoshi. Yoshitoshi became a star pupil of Kuniyoshi at the young age of eleven and, in 1853, designed his first published woodcut print at age fourteen. Until 1860, Yoshitoshi’s art was influenced by the dominant Utagawa style, but after that date he broke out into a striking form of artistic expression that was all his own. Daring color combinations combined with dramatic and expressive postures began to lead the way, quickly influencing an entire era of Japanese art. This is all the more remarkable when one considers that through most of his life Yoshitoshi was continually afflicted with serious eye disorders and mental breakdowns. At the time of his death, Yoshitoshi’s fame was so widespread that he had over eighty recorded pupils.
click on magnifying glass in image to enlarge
Only Unframed Museum Quality Giclee Available
