Influential Artists

(Utagawa Kuniyoshi, The Warrior Masakiyo Kills Himself in Battle, c.1848)

          Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) - At the age of 15, he made a name for himself with a musha-e series, in Edo. He became the leading artist of nishiki-e caricatures at the end of the Edo-period. He also was the first to produce pictures of humor about Edo and the end of the Edo-period. Kuniyoshi produced simple compositions and naive drawings as well as remarkable caricatures well until his death at the age of 65, 1861. It was Kuniyoshi who was responsible for the enormous success of the namazu-e as well as for the caricature boom of the Boshin sensō-e, that emerged.

(Katsushika Hokusai, Pilgrims at Kirifuri Waterfall on Mount Kurokami in Shimotsuke Province, c. 1831-32)

          Hokusai (1760-1849) - Son of an artisan, he was one of the great masters in woodblock printmaking. He is also considered one of the most creative, innovative geniuses of all time. No matter his profound influence on western culture, and the impressionists, Hokusai was very "unJapanese" and was at his best by the end of his years. His career started at 14 as an engraver. At 18 he entered his first studio where they made important theatrical prints. In the following decades he would produce his first masterpieces, but under the name Kako. He later adopted the name Hokusai in 1797, during one important period dedicated to the production of surinomo prints and illustrated books.

(Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Prince Kurokumo and the earth spider, c. 1867)