This spring, I attended a ukiyo-e exhibit featuring Utagawa Kuniyoshi and enjoyed seeing lots of his cat's art. I wrote about it here. This time, I attended a different exhibit featuring Kuniyoshi again, which turned out to be one of the best exhibits I've ever been to.
When I was young, I wasn't interested in Japanese art at all. As I've gotten older and learned more about art, I have become interested in Japanese art more and more. Now, Kuniyoshi is one of my favorite yukiyo-e artists. Photography was allowed this exhibit, so I'd like to share them with you.
The first several yukiyo-e prints are based on Water Margin. I haven't read this novel yet, but looking around at characters from it made me think I definitely should read the book. Kuniyoshi was so good at portraying people that they looked as if they were alive.
I learned about history of tattoos through these pieces in the pictures below. During the Edo period, in particular between 1764 and 1781, Japanese tattoos were established. At first, tattoos were used as marks to identify criminals, but eventually firemen and carpenters started getting them because they didn't like showing their naked bodies while working. After Kuniyoshi created these ukiyo-e prints based on Water Margin, tattoos got more popularity. Men admired the strong, masculine characters and wanted to have Kuniyoshi's ukiyo-e designs tattooed on their bodies.
I knew that ukiyo-e is origin of manga, but look at the piece in the picture below. This is surely evidence of the connection, and we can still see this style in manga. I was so impressed.
Miyamoto Musashi with a Whale
Records of the Three Kingdoms
I'm a huge fan of the Three Kingdoms, and I was so happy that I could see the pieces related to the story.
He also created lots of pieces about samurai battles.
Kiso Yoshinaka and Tomoe Gozen
The whole exhibition was so fantastic that I bought an art book about Kuniyoshi to take home.
This year, we have three opportunities to see his work at three different museums, and I also attended another exhibition of his work in Osaka. I'll write about it in another post.
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