|
(1) Utagawa Toyoharu [Masaki; Tajimaya Shojiro, Shinemon; Ichiryusai, Senryusai]
(b Kansai region, 1735; d Edo, 1814). Painter, woodblock print designer and founder of the Utagawa school. A native of western Japan, Toyoharu may have studied in Kyoto under the KANO SCHOOL painter Tsuruzawa Tangei (1688–1789). In the 1760s he moved to Edo, where he became a student of the book illustrator Toriyama Sekien (1712–88). His earliest work is thought to be a narrow-format polychrome print (hosoban nishikie) of the Actor Sawamura Sojuro II as Segawa Kikunojo (c. 1768; Tokyo, Riccer A. Mus.). In the 1770s he produced many polychrome ukie (‘floating pictures’; perspective prints) of interiors and landscapes, improving on OKUMURA MASANOBU’s early attempts in the genre. His use of Western techniques of perspective and occasionally of Western subjects can be seen in his Shin Yoshiwara soshimai no zu (‘Closing time in the Yoshiwara’; c. 1776; priv. col.) and Ukie Oranda yukimi no zu (‘Snow viewing in the Netherlands’; c. 1776; Tokyo, Riccer A. Mus.). The leading exponents of yakushae (‘pictures of actors’) during the late 18th century were the TORII school. With the interruption of the Torii lineage after the death of Torii Kiyomitsu I (see TORII, (6)) in 1785, Toyoharu produced signed theatre programmes for the kaomise (‘face showing’; first kabuki performance of a season) at the Kiriza (1786) and Nakamuraza (1798) and also designed kanban (theatre signboards; see JAPAN, §XV). Although he produced few bijinga (‘beautiful women’) prints, one of his representative works is Kinki shoga (oban, large format; polychrome print; 1775; Tokyo, N. Mus.).
Part of the Utagawa family
|
|
There are more than 45,000 articles in The Grove Dictionary of Art.
To access the rest of this article, including the bibliography, subscribe to
www.groveart.com.
To find out more about this subject, click on a related article below and
subscribe to www.groveart.com
|
