Ochiai Yoshiiku (1833-1904) and Tsukioka (Taiso) Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)both honed their skills under the tutelage of Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), one of the greatest ukiyo-e artists from the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate. From 1866 to ’67, the two collaborated on brutal and gory images reflecting the turmoil in society as the shogunate collapsed.

During those years, the two men shared popularity as friendly rivals. However, Yoshiiku later went on to create multicolored woodblock print illustrations for the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun newspaper (predecessor to the Mainichi Shimbun), of which he was a cofounder. Meanwhile, Yoshitoshi continued and expanded upon the tradition of images of warriors (musha-e)that he had inherited from Kuniyoshi and developed ukiyo-e works with historical themes.

Both of these artists, who were around thirty years old at the time of the Meiji Restoration, are part of the generation known as the last masters of the ukiyo-e genre. Focusing mainly on precious works from the Asai Collection, this exhibition looks back on how they fought to resist the decline of ukiyo-e.

Book + Original brochure of the exhibition.

Texts in Japanese and English

Tittle: Yoshiiku and Yoshitoshi: Ukiyo-e Masters at the Dawn of Modernization.

Author: Yoshiiku and Yoshitoshi

Cover: Softcover in in traditional Japanese bookbinding style

Year of publication: 2023

Size: 25,3 cm / 9.9 in
Pages: 247

New

(The color may vary slightly in the photos and/or video, please understand).