Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Japanese, 1839-1892
- Names
Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi
Yoshitoshi Tsukioka
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
月岡芳年
Yoshitoshi
Taiso Yoshitoshi
Taiso
Gyokuō
Kaisai
Ikkaisai
大蘇芳年
- Occupation or Type
print designer
painter
- Bio
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was the last and greatest genius of traditional ukiyo-e. Born in the last years of the Tokogawa Shogunate, he lived most of his adult life in the Meiji era of modernisation. Influenced by Western art, he strove against the loss of traditional Japanese values, devoting most of his work to reminding the Japanese who he felt they were, and should be. His innovations in composition and line, his ability to capture a personality or a moment, are unique in ukiyo-e, and rare in the history of art.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi apprenticed with Utagawa Kuniyoshi from his early teens—an experience that gave him invaluable training in drawing as well as exposure to one of the more inventive imaginations of the early nineteenth century.
Yoshitoshi used the signature "Ikkaisai" or "Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi" prior to 1873, possibly emulating his teacher Kuniyoshi's use of the studio name "Ichiyûsai"; after 1873, he dropped "Ikkaisai" in favor of Taisō.
- Gender
Male
- Related People
student of: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797-1861)