Kuniyoshi prints

Utagawa Kuniyoshi ()

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (), was one of the last great masters of the Japanese woodblock print.

Kuniyoshi biography He was a member of the Utagawa school. The range of Kuniyoshi's subjects included many genres: landscapes, beautiful women, Kabuki actors, cats, and mythical animals. He is known for depictions of the battles of legendary samurai heroes. His artwork incorporated aspects of Western representation in landscape painting and caricature. Apparently he assisted his father's business as a pattern designer, and some have suggested that this experience influenced his rich use of color and textile patterns in prints.

He was born in , the son of a silk-dyer, originally named Yoshizo. He apparently assisted his father by designing for the business, and quite naturally found his way to the art world.

He originally studied with the artist Kuninao, and some of his work came to the attention of one of the great masters of the Japanese woodblock print, Toyokuni.

He was officially admitted to Toyokuni's studio in , and became one of his chief pupils.

Utagawa kuniyoshi biography Utagawa Kuniyoshi was an Ukiyo-e artist who fascinated the people of Edo with his bizarre ideas and boldly incorporating new techniques. His Ukiyo-e incorporating Western shadow method and laws of perspective, wide three-panel Ukiyo-e, and novel and bizarre Ukiyo-e using the human body and cats as models, gained great popularity among the people of Edo. In , Utagawa Kuniyoshi was born to a dyer in Nihonbashi. He learned painting and copying at an early age and became a pupil of Utagawa Toyokuni at the age of After that, he began to produce Ukiyo-e single pictures, but they did not gain much popularity, and the period of his dismal popularity lasted for a long time.

He remained an apprentice until , when he was given the name Kuniyoshi and set out as an independent artist.

Like many others of the Utagawa school, he started out with theatre prints, but his initial lack of success led to several hard years, at one point making a meagre living repairing and selling used tatami (floormats).

A chance encounter with his prosperous fellow pupil Kunisada, to whom he felt (with some justice) that he was superior in artistic talent, led him to redouble his efforts (but did not create any lingering ill-feeling between the two, who later collaborated on a number of series).

He then produce a number of heroic triptychs which were well thought of, and in he started the series which was to secure his place, the Suikoden, or "Hundred and Eight Chinese Heroes".

He went on to become quite successful in a number of fields, including some excellent landscapes in the early 's.

Yasuo kuniyoshi biography Kuniyoshi Utagawa, the esteemed Japanese printmaker, was born in in Edo, now known as Tokyo. His profound impact on the world of ukiyo-e, the traditional woodblock print art of Japan, is a testament to his artistic brilliance and enduring influence. Kuniyoshi's early life revealed an innate talent for art, leading him to apprentice under the esteemed ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Toyokuni. Guided by Toyokuni, Kuniyoshi mastered the traditional woodblock printmaking techniques that would define his signature style. Initially exploring conventional ukiyo-e themes like beautiful women, actors, and landscapes, Kuniyoshi soon distinguished himself by venturing into a broader range of subjects.

In the 's he continued to produce many prints, among them many triptychs of bijin and heroes.

He was also known for his drawings of cats, his favourite animal (according to a drawing by his pupil Kyosai, his studio was full of cats), of which he did wonderfully sympathetic drawings, which he included in corners of his prints on the slightest excuse.

Although arrested in the morals-based crackdown of on the print and theatre world, he escaped with a fine. In the 's the quality of his work started to decline, and after the great earthquake of , in which he was given up for dead by his family and studio when he was late coming hime, he suffered extensively from illness and depression, and produced little more.

He died in Edo, in

Although he had quite a few pupils, his chief pupil was Yoshitoshi, the last of the great Japanese woodblock masters.


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