Yoshitoshi | Looking Chilly , 32 Aspects of Customs and Manners
月岡芳年 Tsukioka Yoshitoshi(1839–1892)
風俗三十二相 つめたさう 文化年間めかけの風俗
Looking Chilly, from the series of Thirty-two Aspects of Customs and Manners
1888
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 37cm x 25.5cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tata-e | 37cm x 25.5cm
第一版次;品相非常好;左边边缘有轻微脏痕
First edition; slight stains on left margin, otherwise in very good condition
$3,800
谁不爱看美人呢?
《风俗三十二相》,是月冈芳年于1888年推出的大判锦绘美人画系列,连同1张目录在内,合计33幅。全作以江户末期至明治中期近百年来的各阶层不同年龄段女性为题材,色彩明快,构图浪漫,雕版细腻,是芳年的经典代表作之一。
一注冰凉的清水从青铜水器上的龙首倾泻而下,一位身着明艳红色和装的美人正口衔怀纸,挽起袖子清洗双手。从画题与打理熨帖的三轮髷发型可以得知,她是一位大户人家的妾室,特殊的身份、随性的姿态、流转的眼波,都为她增添了几丝动人的俏丽。身后,粉色的光芒从行灯顶部涌出,恰如一盏从下而上投射的舞台光,照亮了美人发间的玳瑁钗,又将背景分割成粉与黑两块梯形,简明耐看,充满现代艺术气息,可谓是超越时代的天才设计。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
月岡芳年 Tsukioka Yoshitoshi(1839–1892)
風俗三十二相 つめたさう 文化年間めかけの風俗
Looking Chilly, from the series of Thirty-two Aspects of Customs and Manners
1888
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 37cm x 25.5cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tata-e | 37cm x 25.5cm
第一版次;品相非常好;左边边缘有轻微脏痕
First edition; slight stains on left margin, otherwise in very good condition
$3,800
谁不爱看美人呢?
《风俗三十二相》,是月冈芳年于1888年推出的大判锦绘美人画系列,连同1张目录在内,合计33幅。全作以江户末期至明治中期近百年来的各阶层不同年龄段女性为题材,色彩明快,构图浪漫,雕版细腻,是芳年的经典代表作之一。
一注冰凉的清水从青铜水器上的龙首倾泻而下,一位身着明艳红色和装的美人正口衔怀纸,挽起袖子清洗双手。从画题与打理熨帖的三轮髷发型可以得知,她是一位大户人家的妾室,特殊的身份、随性的姿态、流转的眼波,都为她增添了几丝动人的俏丽。身后,粉色的光芒从行灯顶部涌出,恰如一盏从下而上投射的舞台光,照亮了美人发间的玳瑁钗,又将背景分割成粉与黑两块梯形,简明耐看,充满现代艺术气息,可谓是超越时代的天才设计。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
月岡芳年 Tsukioka Yoshitoshi(1839–1892)
風俗三十二相 つめたさう 文化年間めかけの風俗
Looking Chilly, from the series of Thirty-two Aspects of Customs and Manners
1888
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 37cm x 25.5cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tata-e | 37cm x 25.5cm
第一版次;品相非常好;左边边缘有轻微脏痕
First edition; slight stains on left margin, otherwise in very good condition
$3,800
谁不爱看美人呢?
《风俗三十二相》,是月冈芳年于1888年推出的大判锦绘美人画系列,连同1张目录在内,合计33幅。全作以江户末期至明治中期近百年来的各阶层不同年龄段女性为题材,色彩明快,构图浪漫,雕版细腻,是芳年的经典代表作之一。
一注冰凉的清水从青铜水器上的龙首倾泻而下,一位身着明艳红色和装的美人正口衔怀纸,挽起袖子清洗双手。从画题与打理熨帖的三轮髷发型可以得知,她是一位大户人家的妾室,特殊的身份、随性的姿态、流转的眼波,都为她增添了几丝动人的俏丽。身后,粉色的光芒从行灯顶部涌出,恰如一盏从下而上投射的舞台光,照亮了美人发间的玳瑁钗,又将背景分割成粉与黑两块梯形,简明耐看,充满现代艺术气息,可谓是超越时代的天才设计。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892)
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi may have lived for only 53 years, a short lifespan even in Edo times, but the history he witnessed and the myriad styles he embraced could have easily filled twice that many decades. Beginning as a more-or-less classic Ukiyo-e artist of the Utagawa school, in the waning days of the Shogunate, he developed a style that was both in-sync with Western styles and utterly his own. He was there as Japan metamorphized from a feudal land to a nascent modern society, and he managed to capture that elusive moment in time in more than 2000 woodblock prints for more than 50 publishers.
You could say he was the last great Ukiyo-e artist, and perhaps the first great post-Ukiyo-e artist. His fantastical designs ranged from history – often with buckets of blood – to bijin (beautiful women) to landscapes. He depicted people from a variety of angles and gave them intricate, and often grotesque, facial characteristics, a far cry from the simple, stereotypical visages common to Japanese woodblock prints. And he could have fun. One of his last great series, 1888’s “32 Aspects of Women,” humorously shows women through various realms of Japanese culture, and depicts very specifics moods and sensations – for example, “Cool,” “Thirsty” and “Itchy.” My favorite? “Disagreeable: Habits of a young woman of Nagoya in the Ansei era.” Ha! What a pill she looks like.
Yoshitoshi was born into a merchant family in 1839. He was an early student of Kuniyoshi, who gave him his name. Many of his warrior designs, especially the earlier ones, show a clear debt to the master, with all manner of high energy action filling his oban-size prints. He became known as a “war artist” specializing in bloody designs in the 1860s. He did numerous warrior, folklore and history series’ during this period.
But those were not his only genres. He also contributed to the epic “Processional Tokaido,” in which most of the great Ukiyo-e artists and publishers of the time combined forces to depict the Shogun’s journey to Kyoto to pay respects to the Emperor, and did his share of “Yokohama-e,” prints depicting the newly arrived Westerners.
He was tormented by a mysterious mental disorder – some say that’s what sparked such a violent imagination – and had numerous marriages and amorous affairs. He stopped working for a period, and when he came back called himself Taiso – resurrection. By the 1880’s his talent reached it’s zenith, with his epic “100 Aspects of the Moon,” and other series. His drawings and color schemes became more elaborate and more, well, his. They switched easily between bold and blunt and delicate and sensitive (and back again). Still suffering from mental illness, he died in 1892.
Partial citation: Marks, Andreas, Japanese Woodblock Prints, Artists, Publishers and Masterworks (Tuttle; 2010).