This publication draws from the Ed Freis collection, which was assembled over the course of thirty years. It illustrates numerous works from Yoshitoshi s early career, including several prints that have to date not appeared in Western language catalogues."
The vivid color and scenes from turmoil of 19th century Japan reflects the challenges of the new modern state of Japan. This collection of stunning woodblock prints by Yoshitoshi contains color artwork in a paperback format - perfect for coffee tables, waiting rooms, and anyone who needs more art in their world. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was born 1839 in the Shinbashi district in Edo, today known as Tokyo, to a wealthy merchant family. Yoshitoshi's prints were often depictions of bloody events, reflecting the state of Japanese society at the time. By the 1870s, Yoshitoshi's popularity had declined sharply, and he developed severe mental health issues in the face of extreme poverty. He produced work until his death in 1892 sporadically, but even a surge in the popularity of newspapers wasn't enough. By the time of his death, woodblock prints were no longer in demand.
This marvelous evocation of traditional Japanese culture is the vision of the most prolific and influential woodblock artist of the Meiji period. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi began his masterpiece in 1885 and finished it shortly before his death, seven years later. His images depict characters from history and legend — courtesans, warriors, musicians, poets, and ordinary folk — in striking vignettes that unfold by the light of the moon. An eager public of Yoshitoshi's contemporaries snapped up new designs from the "moon series" as quickly as they appeared. The artist incorporated Western techniques into a traditional medium that was already losing ground to photography and lithography. Inspired by history and myth, his portraits of a vanishing world elevated woodblock art to its highest level before the genre's decline. Now, after a century of obscurity, Yoshitoshi's glorious illustrations are being rediscovered. This edition of his greatest work features reproductions of each image in full color and at nearly actual size, accompanied by insightful commentaries.
This striking work, prepared through the enthusiasm of Professor Conder, who was Professor of Art and Architecture to the Japanese Government, is particularly important as it includes six woodblocks by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, deemed to be perhaps the finest print designer of the period (1839-1892) - a Kuniyoshi pupil who stands almost alone in expressing ukiyo-e vigor during the years of social, political and artistic upheaval.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, a student of ukiyo-e master Utagawa Kuniyoshi, showed a predilection towards two types of subject in his early work: exceptionally bloody musha-e ("warror prints"), and supernatural images of demons and ghosts. Yoshitoshi maintained an interest in depicting the haunted realm of Japanese myth right up until his last major series, 36 Ghosts, in 1889 (two years before his death). Like all Yoshitoshi's art, these prints are now considered to be the work of ukiyo-e's last master practitioner. DEMONSe ^FROMe ^THEe ^HAUNTEDe ^WORLD, edited by Jack Hunter (who also edited the ground-breaking extreme ukiyo-e anthology "Dream Spectres"), collects and considers over 150 of Yoshitoshi's most striking and disturbing images of spectres, monsters and demons -- including the series 100 Ghost Stories, Heroic Beauty, and 36 Ghosts in their entirety -- presented in large-format and full-colour throughout. Third in a dynamic new series presenting the cutting edge of 19th century Japanese art.
This edition of Yoshitoshi's 100 Dogs of War contains not only Yoshitoshi's full set of 65 completed battle prints, reproduced in full-size and full-colour, but also several fascinating preparatory drawings for unfinished designs. -- provided by publisher.