Utagawa Toyoharu

Utagawa school of art grew to dominate ukiyo-e in the 19th century, with artists such as Utamaro, Hiroshige, and Kuniyoshi.

1 Life and career

Perspective Pictures of Places in Japan: Sanjūsangen-dō in Ky- oto, depicting an archery competition, c. 1772–1781

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A Perspective View of French Churches in Holland, actually Toyoharu was born in Japan in Tajima Province (in red) in 1735. based on a print of the Roman Forum, c. 1770s

Utagawa Toyoharu was born c. 1735*[lower-alpha 1] in “ ” In this Japanese name, the family name is Utagawa . Toyooka in Tajima Province. He studied in Kyoto under Tsuruzawa Tangei of the Kanō school of painting. It may Utagawa Toyoharu (歌川豊春, c. 1735 – 1814) was a have been around 1763 that he moved to Edo (modern Japanese artist in the ukiyo-e genre, known as the founder Tokyo), where he studied under Toriyama Sekien. The of the Utagawa school and for his uki-e pictures that in- Toyo (春) in the art name Toyoharu (豊春) is said to have corporated Western-style geometrical perspective to cre- come from Sekien's personal name Toyofusa (豊房).*[2] ate a sense of depth. Some sources hold he also studied under Ishikawa Toy- * Born in Toyooka in Tajima Province, Toyoharu first stud- onobu and Nishimura Shigenaga . [3] Other art names ⼀⻯斎 ied art in Kyoto, then in Edo (modern Tokyo), where Toyoharu went under include Ichiryūsai ( ), Sen- 潜⻯斎松爾楼 from 1768 he began to produce designs for ukiyo-e wood- ryūsai ( ), and Shōjirō ( ). Tradition holds “ that the name Utagawa derives from Udagawa-chō, where block prints. He soon became known for his uki-e float- * ing pictures”of landscapes and famous sites, as well Toyoharu lived in in the Shiba district in Edo. [2] His 但⾺屋庄次郎 as copies of Western and Chinese perspective prints. common name was Tajimaya Shōjirō ( ), 昌樹 Though his were not the first perspective prints in ukiyo- and he also used the personal names Masaki ( ) and 新右衛⾨ * e, they were the first to appear as full-colour nishiki-e, and Shin'emon ( ). [3] they demonstrate a much greater mastery of perspective Toyoharu's work began to appear about 1768.*[2] His techniques than the works of his predecessors. Toyoharu earliest work includes woodblock prints in a refined, del- was the first to make the landscape a subject of ukiyo-e icate style of beauties and actors.*[3] Soon he began art, rather than just a background to figures and events. to produce uki-e “floating picture”perspective prints, By the 1780s he had turned primarily to painting. The a genre in which Toyoharu applied Western-style one-

1 2 2 STYLE point perspective to create a realistic sense of depth. Most were of famous sites, including theatres, temples, and teahouses.*[2] Toyoharu's were not the ﬁrst uki-e̶ Okumura Masanobu had made such works since the early 1740s, and claimed the genre's origin for himself.*[4] Toyoharu's were the ﬁrst uki-e in the full-colour nishiki-e genre that had developed in the 1760s.*[5] Several of his prints were based on imported prints from the West or China.*[6] From the 1780s Toyoharu appears to have dedicated himself to painting, and also produced kabuki programs and billboards. He headed the painters involved in the restoration of Nikkō Tōshō-gū in 1796.*[2] He died in 1814 and was buried in Honkyōji Temple in Ikebukuro under the Buddhist posthumous name Utagawain Toy- oharu Nichiyō Shinji (歌川院豊春⽇要居⼠).*[7]

• Western inﬂuence on Toyharu • The Canal Grande from Santa Croce to the East Canaletto, oil on cancas, 18th century • The Canal Grande from Santa Croce to the East Antonio Visentini, copperplate engraving, 1742 • The Bell which Resounds for Ten Thousand Leagues in the Dutch Port of Frankai Some young women using a megane-e device Toyoharu, woodblock print, c. 1770s Harunobu, c. 1760s

2 Style sources appeared in the 1730s, and soon after, ukiyo-e prints displaying these techniques appeared first in the Toyoharu's works have a gentle, calm, and unpretentious * works of Torii Kiyotada and then of Okumura Masanobu. touch, [3] and display the influence of ukiyo-e masters These early examples were inconsistent in their applica- such as Ishikawa Toyonobu and Suzuki Harunobu.*[2] * tion of perspective techniques, and the results can be un- Harunobu pioneered the full-colour nishiki-e print [8] convincing; Toyoharu's were much more dextrous,*[13] and was particularly popular and influential in the 1760s, ̶ * though not strict he manipulated it to allow the rep- when Toyoharu first began his career. [9] resentation of figures and objects that otherwise would Toyoharu procuded a number of willowy, graceful bijin- have been obscured.*[14] Toyoharu's works helped pi- ga portraits of beauties in hashira-e pillar prints.*[3] Only oneer the landscape as an ukiyo-e subject, rather than about fifteen examples of his bijin-ga are known, almost merely a background for human figures*[15] or events, all from his earliest period.*[10] One of the better-known as in Masanobu's works.*[16] examples of Toyoharu's work in this style is a four-sheet Several of his prints were imitations of imported prints set depicting the Chinese ideal of the Four Arts.*[3] Toy- of famed European locations, some of which were West- oharu produced a small number of yakusha-e actor prints ern and others Chinese imitations of Western prints. The that, in contrast to the works of the leading Katsukawa titles were often fictional: The Bell which Resounds for school, are executed in the learned style of an Ippitsusai * Ten Thousand Leagues in the Dutch Port of Frankai is an Bunchō . [3] imitation of a print of the Grand Canal of Venice from While Toyoharu trained in Kyoto he may have been ex- 1742 by Antonio Visentini, itself based on a painting posed to the works of Maruyama Ōkyo, whose popular by Canaletto.*[6] Toyoharu titled another A Perspective megane-e were pictures in one-point perspective meant View of French Churches in Holland, though he based it to be viewed in a special box in the manner of the French on a print of the Roman Forum.*[17] Toyoharu took li- vue d'optique.*[11] Toyoharu may also have seen the Chi- cence with other details of foreign lands, such as having nese vue d'optique prints made in the 1750s that inspired the Dutch swim in their canals.*[8] Japanese and Chi- Ōkyo's work.*[12] nese mythology were also frequent subjects in Toyoharu's uki-e prints, the foreign perspective technique giving such Early in his career, Toyoharu began producing the uki- * e for which he is best remembered. Books on geo- prints an exotic feel. [18] metrical perspective translated from Dutch and Chinese In his nikuhitsuga paintings the influence of Toyonobu can 3

seem strong, but in his seals on these paintings Toyoharu Hiroshige or Kuniyoshi, the ater generations of artists proclaims himself a pupil of Sekien.*[3]*[lower-alpha 2] tended to lack stylistic diversity, and their work has be- His eﬀorts contributed to the development of the Rinpa come emblematic of ukiyo-e's decline in the 19th cen- school.*[2] tury.*[9] Toyoharu also taught painting. His most prominent stu- • ''The Four Arts'' by Toyoharu dent was Sakai Hōitsu.*[2] • Shamisen As of 2014, studies into Toyoharu's work have not been carried out in depth. Cataloguing and analyzing his • Painting work and his and his publishers' seals was still in its in- fancy.*[25] • Calligraphy • Playing Go • Members of the Utagawa school

• Perspective prints by Toyoharu • Ichikawa Komazo II, Toyokuni, c. 1797 • Perspective View of Moon Viewing in Mid-Autumn, • Woman Wiping Sweat, Utamaro, c. 1790s c. 1770s • • Perspective View of the Theaters in Sakai-chō and One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: Suidō Bridge Fukiya-chō on Opening Night, c. 1770s and the Surugadai Quarter, Hiroshige, 1857

• Momotarō and His Animal Friends Conquer the • Kunisada-Nakamura Fukusuke as Hayano Kampei, Demons, c. 1770s Kunisada, 1860

• Mitsukuni and the Skeleton Specter (one of a trip- 3 Legacy tych), Kuniyoshi, c. 1840s

The popularity of Toyoharu's work peaked in the • Paintings by Toyoharu and his followers 1770s.*[6] By the 19th century, Western-style perspec- • tive techniques ceased to be a novelty and had been ab- A Winter Party, colour on silk, Toyoharu, c. late sorbed into Japanese artistic culture, deployed by such 18th – early 19th century artists as Hokusai and Hiroshige,*[19] two artists best re- • membered for their landscapes, a genre Toyoharu pio- Courtesans of the Tamaya House neered.*[20] Toyoharu, byōbu screen painting, c. 1770s–80s The Utagawa school that Toyoharu founded was to be- • Summer and Autumn Grasses * come one of the most influential, [21] and produced Sakai Hōitsu, byōbu screen painting, 19th century works in a far greater variety of genres than any other school.*[22] His students included Toyokuni and Toyohiro;*[2] Toyohiro worked in the style of his master, while Toyokuni,*[23] who headed the school from 4 See also 1814,*[20] became a prominent and prolific producer of yakusha-e prints of kabuki actors.*[23] Other well- • Media related to Utagawa Toyoharu at Wikimedia known members of the school were Utamaro, Hiroshige, Commons Kuniyoshi, and Kunisada.*[21] Though Japanese art schools, such as the Katsukawa in ukiyo-e and the Kanō • List of Utagawa school members in painting, emphasized a uniformity of style, a gen- eral style in the Utagawa school is not easy to recognize aside from a concern with realism and facial expresseive- ness.*[22] The school dominated ukiyo-e production by 5 Notes the mid-19th century, and most of the artists̶such as Kobayashi Kiyochika̶who documented the moderniza- [1] Toyoharu's birthdate is calculated from an inscription in tion of Japan during the Meiji period during ukiyo-e's de- the book Saitan Kyōka Edo Murasaki (歳旦狂歌江⼾紫) clining years belonged to the Utagawa school.*[24] printed in Kansei 7 (c. 1795), in which he states he is in his sixty-first year.*[1] The Torii school lasted longer, but the Utagawa school had more adherents. It fostered closer master–student [2] One such seal reads “Student of Toriyama Sekien Toy- relations and more systematized training than in other ofusa”(⿃⼭⽯燕豊房⾨⼈ Toriyama Sekien Toyofusa schools. Excepting a few prominent examples, such as Monjin). ARTIST: TOYOHARU, UTAGAWA (1733-1814) PRINT: INTERIOR AND LANDSCAPE Oriental Art FREER GALLERY Date: Unknown WASHINGTON, D.C. Size: Unknown Medium: Unknown ARTIST - Utagawa Toyoharu was the founder of the Utagawa School of wood engraving. He worked in a lively and original style. His prints of theatrical subjects were painted for the stage and for various temples. Toyoharu also made engravings for prints showing views of Venice and other foreign cities and countries. These show the same excellent design as his prints of purely Japanese inspiration. PRINT - In this print Interior and Winter Landscape, the artist lets you see a scene from Japan. They are having a meal in their own tradition. Two of the people are playing instruments. The clothing is also in the style of their culture - brightly colored and boldly printed. The hair-do's have ornaments. Notice the type of meal and food utensils that they are using. Even the picture of the landscape behind them reflects the landscape of their country.

Library of Congress Exhibitions

The Library of Congress > Exhibitions > The Floating World of Ukiyoe > Overview Print Subscribe Share/Save The Floating World of UkiyoE Overview

The Floating World of Ukiyoe: Shadows, Dreams, and Substance showcases the Library's spectacular holdings of Japanese "Ukiyoe" (translated as pictures of the floating, or sorrowful, world) and is the first public viewing of this important and previously unseen collection. Featured are selected Ukiyoe prints, books, and drawings from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries and other related works from the Library's collections created by Japanese and Western artists into the twentieth century.

The Library of Congress owes its extensive holdings of Ukiyoe prints and printed books to a host of different collectors, including Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and President William Howard Taft. However, the most extensive collection of Ukiyoe at the Library was assembled by Crosby Stuart Noyes (18251908), an owner and editorinchief of the former Washington Evening Star. In giving the collection to the Library in 1905, Mr. Noyes expressed the hope that the collection would be "an illustration of the extraordinary variety in Japanese art and an instructive and timely insight into their history and culture."

In presenting this exhibition, the Library of Congress offers its visitors the opportunity to see the beauty and the meaning that motivated Crosby Stuart Noyes and others to collect these materials.

Historical Background

The Japanese art of Ukiyoe developed in the city of Edo (now Tokyo) during the Tokugawa or Edo Period (16151868). These two names refer to the relatively peaceful 250 years during which the Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan and made Edo the shogunal seat of power.

The social hierarchy of the day, officially established by shogun rulers, placed the merchants, the wealthiest segment of the population, at the lower end of the scale. With their political power effectively removed, the merchant class turned to art and culture as arenas in which they could participate on an equal basis with the elite upper classes (warriors, farmers, and artisans). It was the collaboration among the merchants, artists, publishers, and townspeople of Edo that gave Ukiyoe its unique voice. In turn, Ukiyoe provided these groups with a means of attaining cultural status outside the sanctioned realms of shogunate, temple, and court.

Although Ukiyoe was initially considered "low" art, by and for the nonelite classes, its artistic and technical caliber is consistently remarkable. Reading the images demands an extremely high level of visual, textual, and cultural literacy. From its earliest days, Ukiyoe images and texts frequently referred to themes from classical, literary, and historical sources. At the same time, Ukiyoe constantly expanded to reflect contemporary tastes, concerns, and innovations over the two and a half centuries of its development. The result was an art that was both populist (of and for the people, readily accessible, plentiful, affordable) and highly sophisticated. In summary, Ukiyoe presented both the historical and all that was current, fashionable, chic, and popular. In the hands of the Ukiyoe artist, the ordinary was transformed into the extraordinary.

Ukiyoe Woodblock Prints and Books

The art of the woodblock is exemplified in Ukiyoe, which exploited the full potential of this printmaking medium. In Ukiyo e, each image was created through the collaborative effort of four skilled individuals: the publisher who coordinated the efforts of the specialized artisans and marketed the artworks; the artist who designed the artworks and drew them in ink on paper; the carver who meticulously carved the designs into a woodblock, or, in most cases, a series of woodblocks (during the Edo period the number of blocks averaged ten to sixteen); and a printer who applied pigments to the woodblocks and printed each color on handmade paper. Each member of this team was highly skilled and had nearly equal responsibilities for the final result.

The woodblock images in this exhibition display a broad spectrum of styles and printing techniques. The early prints are spare and monochromatic, printed in black ink only, some with minimal handcoloring. Later works are built up in lavish layers of printed color, some with embossed areas created by the interplay of pressure, carving, and paper texture. In some works, flecks of ground metal or mica have been applied to surfaces, creating areas that shimmer; in some a thick passage of glue and black printing ink creates a lacquerlike surface.

Perhaps most associated with loose sheet prints, Ukiyoe is also richly represented in woodblockprinted picture books, called ehon. Printing techniques which both text and illustrations were carved into woodblocks provided the means by which large numbers of books could be produced without having to undergo the laborious and expensive process of hand copying, which had previously been the norm. Popular books, art manuals, and albums were produced in quantity using the same techniques that allowed for the mass production of Ukiyoe prints.

As a vehicle for Ukiyoe, woodblock printing was particularly successful, producing in quantity stunningly beautiful artworks that were available at a relatively low cost. The Library's collection numbering approximately 2000 woodblock prints and 400 block printed ehon, attests to the unrivaled craftsmanship, technical excellence, and spectacular results that Ukiyoe artists were able to achieve in woodblock printing.