Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Triptych Woodblock Print "Rulers of the Tokugawa Clan", 1881

Item Details

Tuskioka Yoshitoshi ( (月岡 芳年, Japan, 1839 – 1892)
Rulers of the Tokugawa Clan, 1881
Woodblock print on paper
Inscribed in plate

A woodblock triptych titled Rulers of the Tokugawa Clan by Japanese artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, created in 1881. This work features a gathering of the members of the Tokugawa clan, which was the last feudal Japanese military government. Many of Yoshitoshi’s works feature the violent times that resulted from the breakdown of the Japanese feudal system, imposed by the Tokugawa clan. Japanese inscriptions are presented throughout the work in plate.

Japanese artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (also named Taiso Yoshitoshi 大蘇 芳年) is widely recognized as one of the last great masters of ukiyo-e woodblock printing and painting. During his career, he witnessed the transition from the Edo period to the modern period following the Meiji Restoration. At a time when western mass production methods, such as photography and lithography, were infiltrating into Japan, Yoshitoshi maintained a loyalty to traditional Japanese art methods such as traditional woodblock printing. Born Owariya Yonejiro, the artist apprenticed under master printmaker Utagawa Kuniyoshi at age 11, who gave him his new name ‘Yoshitoshi’ to denote his lineage in the Utagawa School. In 1963, sixty-three of his designs were published, and he also contributed designs to the 1863 Tokaido series, organized by Kunisada that featured work by artists of the Utagawa School. In the 1860s, Yoshitoshi became known for his work that featured themes of graphic violence and death, many of which were inspired by the breakdown of the nation’s feudal system and the country at war. In 1865, ninety-five additional designs of Yoshitoshi’s were published, many of which featured military and historical subjects, such as this work. Until the end of his life, Yoshitoshi was one of the few artists who was able to preserve the tradition of Japanese woodblock printing at a time that it was being pushed into obsoletion by modernization.

Condition

- light toning; light scattered accretion; abrasions to sheets to far left side and left page join; several small nicks to frame.

Dimensions

- measures frame; visible image measures 28" W x 13.25" H.

Item #

ITMG126277