Chats on Japanese Prints

RI

DECA

OM

ENT OF

T

OF U

90-

PTE

PERIOD: T

Kiyonaga to the Death

erfully piled coiffures, elaborately brocaded robes; and the virile drawing of the earlier master gives way to the sinuous curves and arresting plasticity of the new designers. The favourite types of this time are almost as unreal as those of the Primitives, but they convey a totally different fee

milated the style of Kiyonaga were the very ones who, in this period, turned to the depiction of figures in which every line betrays the wearin

e national life; which gave plays and novels a semi-political aim. This deeper wave of self-consciousness on the part of the people was met by the authorities with sterner repressions. The better elements that might have drifted into improving the popular standards in pleasure and art were driven out by a strict censorship. There was thus a sort of natural, or unnatural, selection which tended to isolate and give prominence to the coarser side of the popular feeling. If the issue were squarely made between Confucius and rank demoralization, there was little resource for the commoner but to choose the latter. Thus there arose a sort of alliance between the theatre and the houses of pleasure on the one hand, and the disaffected among the literary

iving as passionately "modern" lives as we do to-day. Change was required to keep them interested; and since the idealization of sound vitality could hardly be pushed farther than Kiyonaga had taken it, the obvious path for the artist lay in the direction of fantastic variations on t

e age of Harunobu, with its new technical resources, had abandoned pure decoration and aspired to put into its designs something of the flavour of life. The age of Kiyonaga, with its complete mastery of technique, had projected into its designs its observation of real beings-drawn with a fine idealization, but nevertheless based

same time they used these sharply mastered details of nature as mere brick and mortar out of which to construct fantastic edifices of the most unbridled imagination. Because they were geniuses, they did this and crea

rks are wholly beyond praise. Sharaku, the supreme master of actor-portraits and one of the great artists of the world, created designs of stupendous power; if there is any trace of decadence in him it is not weakness but brutality. Utamaro, in his earlier years at least, was as wholesome as Kiyonaga; and even when, in later times, he t

keen as to sustain what was, after all, the dying effort of their art. The successes of each one spurred the others on to new types and new feverish devices, feeding thus the flames of the desire for novelty among the people. But the end was at hand. By 1800, in the later work of Utamaro, in most of the work of Toyokuni, and in practically all the wo

productions of which we shall find beauties less sane and sound

da Y

it of

silence o

presence se

that no ti

s messeng

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hat no lip

mb save as

hadowy throa

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us and te

ry in the

shed days

sees you

s that his l

he vision

ost vision

ves of your

of your de

e unearthly

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e region w

spirits wi

ing lovely

s only bea

.

t in life yo

many for

he revelrie

across the f

mage in

careless

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ds on some

rinks back fr

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.

re you in

all, who ca

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ur beauty l

e secret hea

and unfor

holy beaut

, a sudden

e moved in

profound and

thin his do

the desert

u rose a wor

dark veils f

ouds from sta

and leave

then, but

powers of

hands, this s

d skaken wi

shape of

e seeking o

lonely eye

soul walked s

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to some lor

rose from

dawn-light o

.

n with eth

r delicate

ound you w

, and the

ay-and the

, ashen,

both throug

carpet gloo

at waning,

es that love

over could

ul and all

quivering

life that fill

whom you

the troubled

.

s swift to s

ings that spr

so surely

of visio

n his dest

with a lu

that which

ghostly l

r beauty, cr

ough many a

re luminous

ut of Sun

r the beginning of the nineteenth century-a date when Kiyonaga had for some years been in retirement. Thus in Yeishi perhaps more fully th

IS

of the Shogun Iyeharu. It is not difficult to imagine the horror of Yeishi's early circle of associates when he threw over conventionality and station, and plunged into the vie de Bohème of a popular painter. "This youth," remarks Fenollosa, "doubtless shocked all his friends in tiring of the solemn old Chinese poets who had been gliding about in impossible

stic. Plate 35 is an example. They are wholly in the Kiyonaga manner except that they have a touch of fragility and delicacy that is alien to Kiyonaga. The proportions of the figures are the same, but Yeishi's curves are less naturalistic; they seem the product of one whose hungry visions lapped like waves against the shore of reality, shaping it

E LADIES BY

ptych. Size 15 × 1

te

them; they become impalpable, wistful creatures, hovering before us with slow grace, moving by us in grave procession. These beautiful women are like creatures seen in a dream; they

s second period-his most individual and powerful-he produced compositions that are hardly inferior to Kiyonaga's. Yeishi may be regarded as one of the few designers who perfectly mastered the triptych form. His arrangements are simpler than Kiyonaga's but no less beautiful. A notable series depicting various polite occupations from the life of Prince Genji are so harmonious in design, so lovely in colour, and so instinct with spiritual refinement as to rank among his finest works. In some of these triptychs Yeishi introduces his interesting colour-i

notable results in this manner, using a style in which lights of yellow and purple are arranged with beautiful effect. Sometimes, though r

DY WITH TO

anscriber's note: Dimension missi

te

is displayed Yeishi's power to draw exquisitely the long sweeping curves of draperies; and the strangely pensive, hieratic quality of his faces is at its best. Their charm lies not in the brushwork, which is never as free and bold as Kiyonaga's, but in the sentiment of remote beauty of which these haunting curves are such pure symbols. He also produced a number of groups of courtesans on parade

ry tall and willowy; their necks became so exaggeratedly thin that they seem unable to support the great pile of the coiffure; an attenuated snakyness distinguishes their lines; and the curves of their garments are distorted into the most fantastic folds and swirls. It was in this period that Yeishi produced most of his large bust-portraits on yellow or mica grounds; in these he followed the lead of Utam

e modest collector. Yeishi's important works are of great scarcity. His figures on yellow or mica ground, his grey prints, his large heads, and his pill

OR OPENING ON

ych. Printed in several to

i ga. Metzga

te

is

he most important. Nothing is known of him except that h

IS

ed from the manner of Kiyonaga into that of Utamaro; but his middle period is his most characteristic. In this he produced many fascinating single sheets of seated or kneeling women, several admirable pillar-prints, as in Plate 33, some large bust-portraits that are perhaps his finest works, and a number of triptychs. These last, as a rule, lack the element that is the real glory of the triptych-a broadly grasped correlation of complex elements into one great harmonious composition. Yeis

magnificent and so much finer than any work of Yeisho's I had ever seen that my previous opinion had to be modified. In subtlety of line and delicacy of colour this head is at least equal to Utamaro's finest works in the same manner; it utterly contradicts my previous impression of Yeisho's stereotype

upils o

ital body of pupils. Though his disciples were many, no one of them achieved independent renown; the seeds of

pleasing. He cannot, however, be regarded as an important or original artist. His large bust-portraits,

pleasing in colour, are very rare indeed; the few known examples of his work have a distinction worthy of more

i Yeiri. The latter worked more in the style of Utamaro; his work is rare, and his finest prints are beautiful and valuable. It was Yeishi's pupil Ye

hese, though attractive, are not as greatly pri

stiff and not very interesti

notable chiefly

is master with l

er unimportant pupils wh

am

it of

e clouds of

the dy

vesture of p

and toiling

, O impe

ing pomp of t

ride and glo

and thy calm

own; but thy fr

their w

f the great wh

leopatr

hodope, at

e proud tem

shall rule

its slender w

werless

ower of thy go

stem which t

o shrink

g music, mor

sinuous fo

ers of earth ha

the daughter

th all hop

e languor, th

peness

the wonderfu

s; and they wh

ing at

the lovers of

ight, morni

all that thy

s the summer

f the Hous

.

as one in t

thy popp

thee but the

ee, and claspe

n and sea

living portr

ng time'

bitter ne

poisoned stre

eserts of

come at las

no more

such bright

hy soul that

ere love m

ch matchless

ns frail

passion now

enied the li

h rathe

lure no ver

fresh jo

touched with

ess, and s

thy spir

s nothing i

ous sav

the wings of

the shadow

ith s

ast enmity

ts of life

holdeth the

ou lovest w

and she

.

hy ruined c

a grisl

er sacred h

des these wa

rosanct

e clouds at

the dy

estments of p

nd perished y

the Imp

in the esteem of European collectors. His graceful, sinuous women are the images that come most readily to the minds of ma

AM

l slenderness and willowiness, are the emanations of Utamaro's feverish mind; as her creator he ranks as the most brilliant, the most sophisticated, and the most poetical designer of his time. His life was spent in alternation between his workshop and the haunts of the Yoshiwara, whose beauti

F NANIWAYA, A TE

? × 9. Signed Utamaro, h

te

and book-illustrator Toriyama Sekiyen, whom some authorities say was his father. Almost from the beginning of his career he live

iyonaga was strong. Shunsho's and Kitao Masanobu's characteristics are sometimes also vis

ogist to produce accurate descriptive drawings of these objects could hardly achieve a more scrupulous fidelity than do these pages, which have in addition an ?sthetic charm of a high order. The same characteristic appears in his celebrated "In

ch he issued during this decade are exceedingly beautiful works of a type that the inexperienced eye would never recognize as Utamaro's. The figures are like those of Kiyonaga's prime, but drawn with a slenderness of line and restlessness of poise that strikes a different and shriller note. His work of this perio

neration gone, Utamaro was left to compete for leadership with Yeishi, Shuncho, Choki, Toyokuni, and the lesser men. During the decade from 1790 to 1800 Utamaro was, except for the isolated

TWO COU

ith the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido

te

Harunobu or Sukenobu-wholesome, rounded, with eyes that are large and not narrowed to slits as in his later years, and with coiffure of modest proportions. It resembles the type characteristic of Choki at this time. These charming figures, drawn with subtle precision, stand against their dull silver backgrounds in colours whose few and soft tones produce an effect so harmonious as to alm

ade his peculiarities grew even more marked. The necks of his figures became incredibly slender; the bodies took on unnatural length; a snaky languor pervaded them. One print, his famous "Woman Seated on the Edge of a Veranda," reproduced in Plate 40, may serve as representative of them all. The drawing of the draperies and of the figure beneath them is studied with extraordinary fidelity; in fact, so human and real a figure is hardly to be found in the work of any preceding artist. But on the other hand, Utamaro has used his keen realistic power merely as a scaffolding, and has proceeded to build up on it a work that goes over almost

MAN SEATED

. Signed Ut

te

ancy enabling them to express vividly the tenderest as well as the most intense emotions of the soul; lastly, they must be endowed with a wholly peculiar and therefore affected language for uttering the wholly peculiar sensations that filled them.... It is true that soon after he yielded to the general tendency of his age ... and gradually insisted on these attributes to exaggeration, even to impossibility, while his fame of having been the first to give such morbid inclinations completely satisfactory and therefore unsurpassable expression is a title of somewhat doubtful value, even if in any case a high histor

Banks of the Sumida River," or the "Firefly Catchers," or the "Persimmon Pickers"-stand among the finest prints we know. In colour, rhythm of line, and dramatic quality of composition they are triumphs.

rain his powers unduly. His work no longer kept its earlier freshness; his exaggerations became coarser; his invention grew less fertile. He began to rely on the assistanc

oncubines in the eastern quarter of the capital, the ruling Shogun Iyenari took umbrage at the salacious disrespect to his ancestor and the delicately implied allusion t

OUTHFUL PRIN

riptych. Size 15 × 10.

te

with his earlier work. In the year 1806 he died, and

r-and-child and domestic scenes he produced, have all had to be ignored in favour of his central achievements-his unparalleled designs of the courtesan of the Yoshiwara in her weary glory.

of his triptychs, his silver half-length portraits, and his large heads on mica backgrounds, are very uncommon

death, from about 1808 to 1820, the Second Utamaro worked in the manner of his predecessor, issuing work that cannot with certainty be distinguished from the late work of the master. Besides these perils there is the fact that Utamaro's prints have been

Followers

who were almost without exception rather insignificant artists. With cruder colour and composition, they carr

rom about 1808 to 1820 continued to produce prints in the debased Utamaro manner. Dr. Kurth believes he must be distinguish

this group. Particularly the former, befo

re pupil of Utamaro who

Sogaku, Goshichi, Hidemaro, Mitemaro, Minemaro, Kitamaro, Michimaro, Toshimaro, Hanamaro, Isomaro, Ashimaro, Kanamaro, Kunimaro, Yoshimune, Yoshitora, Yoshitsuya, Yoshiki, Yoshimori, Yoshitoshi, Yoshikata,

was a rare imitator of Utamaro. H

ar

ic Por

art tho

lasping to th

be, a flame a

at wi

ver onward-on

is on t

afage from so

dea's shade br

hould

rful weight, wha

pard

nders down the

ng toward som

shall

that thy veil

hall

secret of th

gulf of midnigh

h clutch

ver onward-on

ed art. At first these strange pictures may even seem mirth-provoking to the spectator-a view of them which he will remember in later years with almost incredulous wonder. To overcome one's original feeling of repulsion may take a long time; but to every

SAI SH

. Kiyonaga's noble drawing certainly affected his style. The influence of Shunsho upon his colour-schemes is fairly obvious; but we do not know whether this was due to personal contact, or only to familiarity with Shunsho's work. The one indisputable fact about Sharaku is that he was originally a Nō-performer in the troupe of the Daimyo of Awa. The Japanese authorities state that he worked at print-designing only one or two years, somewh

RYUZō IN THE R?LE OF ONE

× 10. Signed Toshiusai Shak

te

ts, some in the form of full-length figures of hoso-ye size, and a few large sheets each containing two full-length figures. The

a member of the Nō-troupe of the Daimyo of Aw

ival of a Greek tragedy is with us to-day. In brocaded costumes, perhaps the treasured reliques of centuries ago, the Nō-dancer appeared upon his empty stage before a hushed audience of nobles-his face masked, as were the faces of the Greek actors, his voice lifted to an unnatural pitch of vibrant chaunting; and with stately

the two classes of actors was as great as that between Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson and a juggler at a fair-one, the inheritor of a distinguished literary tradition, the interpreter of our classic dramatic heritage; the

n which they express. The smooth guilelessness of the young girl, the deep wrinkles of the old man, the leer of the rascal, the savagery of the villain, are all in their turn summarized in these haunting representations whose simplicity of outline is matched only b

München, 1910) in his imaginative summary of the probable effect

firs of the Hachisuka castle-a fantastic mask covering his features, other masked spectres before his eyes-surrounded by the atmosphere of the occult tradition of ancient and lofty dramatic art-while, in the depths of h

m-its picturesque sea-lapped beaches-its sun-drenched groves of oak-its glowing scarlet maples-the brilliant flowers of

-bombastic barn-stormers-greasy low-comedians-louts from nowhere, as the illustrious Harunobu had called them-performers who brought before their gaping audience not, as did he, august things in strangely wonderful guise, but often things far too human in strutting stage-pomp. He looked upon them, a guild not only despised but sometimes even outlawed-a guild that stood on the same plane as

ntempt and irony of the Nō-performer for the common actor in his heart, that Sharaku, coming to Yedo, took up his terrible brush to depict the Yedo actors as he s

to this first period; in these, after the manner of Shunsho, he devoted his attention chiefly to the attaining of a powerful dramatic rendering of the r?le he was depicting. Strutting Daimyo, beguiling woman, ferocious warrior, shrewd peasant-he made each part m

u is now coming. The dramatic force, the histrionic illusion of his pictures abates no jot; but beyond it, disturbing lights and movements are lurking. The mighty r?le towers like a shadow before us in its full dramatic sweep; but from the depths of the shadow peers with stealthy glance the indwelling personality of the actor-like a jackal's eyes seen suddenly in a kin

athetic, the tragic; he appraised the lust, the horror, the vacuity that was there, and these qualities he dragged out to the light through the avenues by which he had entered-through the eyes, the lips, the hands-tearing these gates into terrible and distorted breaches elo

YEBIZO) AS THE DAIMYO KO NO MORONAO I

background. Signed

te

ns; and the result was as much a creation of the visionary mind-a true idealism-as the pictures of the fairy-tale-telling Harunobu. It is no mere realism, but an insidious dissection and a mordant reconstruction, that is so striking in these works. The most savage efforts of modern caricatur

se parts are brought together into an incredible yet organic creation. Looking upon them, one realizes that for Sharaku beauty meant not sweetness or grace, but vitality-the clench and rending of the earthqu

pt his eyes fixed unswervingly upon the pathetic mimes of the vulgar stage-outcasts, common lumps strutting for an hour of glory in gorgeous robes and heroic r?les before a gaping populace. How one l

of the composition is so subtle that the element of caricature takes a subordinate place. A lyric mood pervades them. It is impossible to contemplate these figures without a sense, not merely of the irony and contempt which they sometimes embody, but also of the tragic heights on which they move. Lofty conflicts, desperate destinies, immense strainings toward desired goals, immense despairs before impassable barriers-these are some of the emotions that confront us here. The echo of the tragedy of the Greeks is around them; their gestures seem the shadows of titanic cataclysms. Kiyonaga gave us the gods; Sharaku gives us those who foug

TSUNEYO AS A WOMAN IN THE DR

× 10. Signed Toshiusai Shar

te

g his greatest works. When they occur in triptychs, as probably all were originally designed to do, they constitute more harmonious and dramatic units than any of Shunsho's actor-triptychs. The fines

ic effect of the direct composition grows with every repeated sight. These strange heads against the dark glimmering backgrounds seem Titans rooted in the void; they loom upon one's vision enormously; they are overwhelming with the spiritual greatness of their creator. In spite of all the disturbing unquietness of their conflicts, they are charged with a monumental equilibrium of design, sealed with a

ky splendour; "tragic colours," Kurth calls them. The dark mica backgrounds, which Sharaku is said, without much proof, to have invented, heighten to a remarkable degree his colour effects. Words

ery beast. Yet to call even these most extreme of his productions caricatures is to obscure a subtle spiritual essence by a crude word. They are exactly as comic as the ravings of Lear, as mirth-pr

istic." ... "He was a bungler in art." ... From these conflicting criticisms, found in various Japanese authorities, we may gather with what comprehension

his prime. This is an alluring but somewhat fantastic theory, which neither the documentary nor the internal evidence of Yenkyō's work adequately supports. Other authorities believe Yenkyō to have been an independent ar

he perfect mastery of his composition. But I do not like him. I prefer Kiyonaga, just as I prefer the stately beauty of Keats to the troubled profundity of Blake." Such a position is comprehensible and impregnable. B

ints have at certain times turned from the work of Sharaku with th

-purveyor of vulgarities," and Strange was grudgingly describing him in seven lines as an artist "of great power but little grace," the collectors of Paris had already acquired such Sharaku treasures as

ok

ver P

plate of da

he far rim

the lifted

e of the sun

it drops

nightmare o

terrible s

igure-a str

r wearied,

e burning

is deserts. Mr. Strange calls him the most graceful of all the figure-designers of his time, and Kurth does not hesitate to deal with him as "mit einem Riesengroszen." I note in Kurth a tendency to exalt an artist because of his proficiency in technical processes, to an extent that I cannot assent to; Choki was superb, but hardly Titanic. It woul

OK

strated in Plate 45, marks an interesting transition stage. The face and figure seem at first sight almost purely of the Kiyonaga variety, but on closer examination differences appear; and most striking of all is the fact that the colour-scheme is that peculiar combination of yellow, grey, violet, blue, and black which was distinctive of some of Yeishi's finest work. The influence of Sharaku on Choki was at some time very strong, though the precise date is almost impossible to determine. So great was Choki's admiration for this master that later, when he had arrived at his own distinctive manne

RTESAN AND

26

d Cho

LADIES UNDER

24

Kubo Sh

te

strangeness of gesture, some keenness of characterization, or some unusual angle of vision. Few examples of Choki's work in this manner survive; but they are sufficient to lift his reputation from that of a copyist to that of a notable creator of women's portraits. Woman was his great theme. "Er hat ihrem Liebreiz das Hohelied der Japanischen Malerei überhaupt gesungen," says Kurth, in a burst of enthusiasm for these subtle designs. His most striking works in this manner, and perhaps the greatest of all his works, are undoubtedly his half-length

s. Choki's characteristic prints are never restful, but always exciting and vibrant; they are dominated by some hidden instability of equilibrium that reacts on one's nerves like a drug. Their beauty

URTESAN AND

24

Shiko

AND HER SERVANT

24

Shiko

te

ese prints are a few splendid pillar-prints; one of these, the two singers with the black box, illustrated in Plate 46, seems to me almost the finest pillar-print post-dating 1795 that I have ever seen. Of this form Choki was a consummate master. But M. Koechlin regards these Shiko prints as mere imitations of Utamaro's period of decadence, and rejoices in the fact that they are so rare. Mr. Arthur Morrison, on the other hand, who points out correctly that Sh

IK

than that signed Choki. Rarest and most highly treasured of all are his silver-pr

ers of Choki. The fact that we do not know of more disciples of so brilli

oku

il of T

crowded Y

ere one que

as the str

he Master's

ketching har

u, where

he rockets

ave seen the

st famous

robes walked

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o draw them

ll give us s

d figures, l

ocession o

st Oiran, w

nd them. Whe

e copies, s

pupil to

bears his

superbness

ude's deli

, at their

and feast

a rich ma

flocking wit

heets whose

e plaudits

n Utamar

d with swift

before this

lacking, an

in his lo

cold, unwi

f his strong

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e measure o

an to ano

ome blindnes

t cease one

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asant's nat

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who am less

ks boldly, t

red long brush

there I fa

y-perhaps

re subtly c

al poising

at last, at

glimpse of

or all his

mpotence t

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labours

sight shall

s craft can

hts along the

d eyes have

es more lumin

t his hopes

ring lines that

ng echoe

lave and be

ths to lur

s sumptuo

ss-like in

lovelines

pomps and p

tiller, ra

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facile brush

realm tha

ely by field

it for ling

a tender-l

de space of

rill that h

ll form, some

ch where the S

eard, a lig

y wander

streets o

haunt with

hambers of

day a heart

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tentless wi

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will more g

d whispers

e Master's

t pomp and p

ill, how sh

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ugurated his work with the figures of women. His first works imitate the type of face and figure made famous by Shunsho's and Shigemasa's book, "Mirror of the Beautiful Women of the Yoshiwara." Before 1790 he gave up this type for one copied from Kiyonaga, who was at this time at the height of his fame. But Toyokuni was no such draughtsman as Ki

OKU

ni; for we find that it was to Shunsho's style that Toyokuni first looked for a model. But when Sharaku's great series of the Ronin bust-portraits appeared, Toyokuni at once responded to them as the strongest influence of his whole life and produced a number of similar portraits in a manner that captures all the eccentricities but little of the strength or insight of Sharaku. A more successful series, also definitely inspired by Sharaku's Ronin busts, was a se

, "The Journey of Narahira," representing a man on horseback and six attendants, admirably spaced, at the foot of Fuji. In this period also must be placed the series of pillar-prints of unusual width and shortness, very richly printed, representing courtesans and ac

AND CHERRY BLOS

ch. Size 15 × 10. Signed Toy

te

ignificant; and Toyokuni was by no means subtle. Therefore it was no loss when he returned to actor-prints shortly thereafter. One print of this, his second actor-period-the savage portrait of Matsumoto Kōshirō, reproduced by Succo-is notable and fine. But on the whole his second period shows Toyokuni as only slightly

he greater painter for his stimulus and inspiration, went to pieces like a house of cards. Without a rival to emulate, he was nothing; and we see him, a tragic figure-indisputably the most famous master then living, who had survived

ch. He abandoned woman-portraiture about 1810. His actors continued-a mere outworn formula-awkward, angular creations, with senselessly crossed eyes, twisted neck

ftings of style and realize that at every moment he was ready to throw off his old manner and adopt that of whatever artist most strongly appealed

He conceived his actors without the white-heat of real artistic creation. There is something rasping about the greater part of his work; it seems full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. It is rhetoric, not the profound and tragic poetry of Sharaku,

rt was withdrawn he seemed powerless to take another step along that road. Kiyonaga's retirement, Sharaku's downfall, Utamaro's death-each in turn cut short Toyokuni's pros

Once he was esteemed the greatest living print-designer; now I find that many students feel a sense of surp

is contemporaries. He did more poor work than any other artist of his time; but such triptychs as the "Ryogoku Fireworks," in the Kiyonaga manne

nt-shop. His few finest triptychs, such as the "Narahira," or the "Ladies and Cherry-blossoms in

I; but it is a matter of great difficulty, not yet by any means wholly clear, to distinguish between the late inferior work of Toyokuni I and the work of several of the succeeding Toyokunis. One simple indication may be of ser

ohi

p of L

passer-O

from near th

on each for

rescent spr

iled in from

a haze of

r by a lo

em, pale hims

ery shores

passer-by

f Toyokuni. It is well known that about 1800 these two artists collaborated to some extent. Toyohiro's own chief work-landsc

OHI

erence in fame is due less to difference in merit than to the fact that Toyokuni was enormously prolific, while Toyohiro's work was scanty. The contemporaneous popularity may be ascribed to the ability of Toyokuni to shift and veer with every change in the public taste, while Toyohiro was unable or unwilling to move with these fluctuati

cher Toyoharu. One was a leaning toward landscape drawing. The other wa

ich are important elements in the majority of his compositions are handled with a keen sense of contrast that not even Kiyonaga's surpassed. His brushwork is firm and delicate, but not so sparkling with vitality as that of some of his predecessors. His colours are soft, his figures

nced him somewhat. Not even the work of Yeishi is so saturated with the wistfulness for beauty, the sense of vanishing loveliness, the homesickness for regio

A DAIMYO'S

et size 15 × 10. S

te

ucent heliotrope. Below and behind them boys are man?uvring a kite, and older men direct briskly. The ladies for whom this simple and charming pastime is arranged do not seem wholly intent upon it. Their tall slender figures move as if in abstraction, an isolated group i

with the light of spring shining through them serves but to accentuate the faint melancholy of the trailing figures on whom lies a wistfulness that no spring can satisfy. They linger, exquisitely aimless; beautiful, and weary for a yet-unattained beauty; happy, but grave with the shadow of fleeting happiness; sad, though reconciled by the knowledge that beauty is half sadness. They have walked with expectant steps to the edge of the world; and now they pace, delica

in Toyohiro's work that I venture to

storical link of great importance between his master, Toyoharu, and his pupil, Hiroshige, the greatest of all landscape painters. As a conduit of landscape painting at a time when the Ukioye School was little given to this as

birds which have great distinction; an

ts are very rare; his triptychs are generally notable. It is necessary to add, however, tha