| BOOK PREVIEW | ||||||
Kuniyoshi’s Heroes (of China and Japan
Japanese Warrior Prints
Author: Oliver Impey
Color Illus: 20
ISBN: 1-85444-183-3 pp: 32 Published by: Ashmolean Museum |
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| •This is the third title in a popular series which analyses a group of works and includes Hiroshige's Views of Mount Fuji and Hiroshige's Views of Tokyo.
The warrior prints ("musha-e") here are by Tagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), one of the most prolific and popular print artists in Japan in the 19th century whose dramatic subject with factual and imagery brought audiences into a colorful world of adventure and exoticism. Kuniyoshi and other artists turned to prints depicting warriors and legends when the Tenpo reforms of 1842 banned exotic prints of beautiful women and kabuki actors. But at times, even Kuniyoshi's satricial treatments of shoguns brought him official reprimands and his prints were confiscated. The author explores the mean and treatment in one drawing and a range of prints from two series, "Taihekei" and "Suikoden" ("108 Heroes"). | ||||||
