This sumptuously produced monograph showcases the work of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, one of the last great Japanese masters of ukiyo-e prints, illustrations, and paintings.

Best known for his depictions of fierce samurai warriors in battle, Utagawa Kuniyoshi also produced landscapes, portraits of Kabuki actors, and images of mythical animals. His dynamic action scenes and fantastic creatures are recognized today as precursors of manga and anime. This dazzling volume by Matthi Forrer, one of the leading experts on ukiyo-e art, traces Kuniyoshi’s entire career. Chapters look at the major aspects of Kuniyoshi’s oeuvre; his book illustrations and portraits of fashionable women; his enormously popular series featuring actors, warriors, and landscapes; and the influence of Western art on his career. Meticulous, large-scale reproductions highlight the work’s clear outlines, elegantly muted palette, and precise details — from electrifying depictions of a tiger, mid-pounce, and light-hearted interpretations of Chinese folktales, to the terrifying figures of samurai swordsmen and romantic winter landscapes. A Japanese-style binding and box complete this luxurious package that promises an endlessly absorbing journey into the life of Kuniyoshi during the latter days of Japan’s Edo period.

About the Author:

Matthi Forrer is an independent curator and former Curator for Japanese Arts at the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, Netherlands. He is the author of numerous books on Japanese art, including Hokusai, Hiroshige, and Hiroshige: Prints and Drawings (all by Prestel).

Imagine life in Edo, Tokyo from the 17th-19th century, in the early modern period there were many Ukiyo-e shops which sold woodblock prints displaying then-current styles and fashions much like our fashion photography and magazines today.

Each Ukiyo-e work was sold individually people bought the beautifully printed sheets of paper to learn the trends of the day and/or to enjoy the art-works by displaying them on walls as interior decor.

Surprise! By Kuniyoshi covers a variety of subjects and themes ghosts, monsters, yokais and skulls, human beings in humorous or satiric situations any of which might shock or bring laughter to viewers in unexpected ways.

Surprise! By Kuniyoshi includes sixty reproductions of works by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1792-1892), an outstanding Ukiyo-e great master these wonderful reproductions are removable, so that one may re-purpose the Ukiyo-e for whatever environment they choose.

The backside of each sheet includes elegantly simplified designs based on the featured Ukiyo-e designs.

Surprise! By Kuniyoshi is a must for Japanese art lovers, or anyone who might find interest in unusual and humorous delights.

About the Authors:

Nobuhisa Kaneko is a curatorial staff of the Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo. He was born in 1962 in Tokyo and specializes in the history of Edo period (1600-1868) painting. He is the author of Tabi suru Edo kaiga: Rimpa kara dohanga made ( Travelling Edo painting: from Rinpa school to copperplate; PIE Books, 2010) and a co-author of Bessatsu Taiyo Edo Kaiga Nyumon (An Introduction to Edo Painting; Heibonsha, 2007. He has been actively conducting research, curating exhibitions, and writing in his endeavors to bridge the gap between the art of the past and people of today.

Kuniyoshi Utagawa (1797-1861) was one of the great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting. Born in 1797 to a silk dyer, he helped his father's business as a pattern designer. His drawing talent from an early age attracted the attention of the famous print master Toyokuni Utagawa, and Kuniyoshi became one of his apprentices in 1811. The range of Kuniyoshi's preferred subjects included many genres: landscapes, beautiful women, Kabuki actors, mythical animals, and cats. More than any other Japanese artist, Kuniyoshi depicted cats humorously and satirically, with great accuracy and careful observation.

An exploration of the rivalry between Kuniyoshi and Kunisada, two of the most popular Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print artists of the nineteenth century, based on masterworks from the peerless Japanese art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Rival ukiyo-e masters Kuniyoshi and Kunisada were the two most admired designers of figure prints in nineteenth-century Japan. Famous for the realism of his portraits of Kabuki actors, the sensuality of his beautiful women and the luxurious settings he imagined for historical scenes, Kunisada was the popular favourite during his lifetime. Kuniyoshi is loved by connoisseurs and collectors today for his dynamic action scenes of warriors and monsters (which foreshadowed present-day manga and anime), his comic prints, and even a few especially daring works that included forbidden political satire in disguise. With scores of illustrations in glorious full colour, this beautifully produced volume presents Kuniyoshi and Kunisada’s artistic rivalry through a selection of outstanding works from the unparalleled Japanese art collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Readers are invited to decide for themselves which of the two is their personal favourite.

The first extensive comparison of works by woodcut masters Kunisada and Kuniyoshi

In the early sixties, what was then the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf received a large gift of Japanese woodcuts (ukiyo-e), to which the donor generously added until 1988. Among them are 220 pieces by the illustrators Kunisada (1786–1865) and Kuniyoshi (1798–1861), which are distinguished by their finely tuned palettes and the expressive gestures of their figures. The prints take the viewer into a colorful, imaginative dream world, while some even seem like early examples of the Manga comics so popular today. This publication offers a rare opportunity to compare the two artists’ illustrations of the same themes. The essays provide an introduction to nineteenth-century Japanese popular culture, bridging the gap between the centuries by exploring aspects of the grotesque in Japanese art, explaining legends and plays, and presenting some of Kuniyoshi’s preliminary studies.