Description
Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
Title: Looking Inquisitive – appearance of a maid of the Tempo era
Circa: 1888
Series: Fusoku Sanjuniso – Thirty-two Aspects of Daily Life (Customes and Manners)
Condition: Very fine First Edition as indicated by the tricolor cartouche. Trimming to margins: album backing
Description: # 13 in the series depicts a maid (kosho) in a samurai household. Normally from a wealthy merchant family she would be attached to a samurai’s house for a year or two to learn good manners.
click on magnifying glass in image to enlarge
Description: 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.
Original Sold
Unframed Museum Giclee Available
