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Utagawa Yoshitora (歌川芳虎; fl. c. 1835 - 1882) was a member of the Utagawa school of woodblock artists of the late Edo and Meiji periods. Little is known about his early life aside from his being born in Edo (Tokyo). He was a student of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, with whom he later had a falling out, possibly due to his 1849 satirical, irreverent print of important figures from Japanese history. After briefly slipping past censors, the print became very popular but was immediately confiscated once authorities realized it could be interpreted as a thinly veiled critique of the Tokugawa (Yoshitora was arrested for fifty days as a result). Nevertheless, he continued to produce prints at an impressive rate, and, like his teacher, focused on prints depicting samurai, beautiful women, kabuki actors, and foreigners (Yokohama-e). His works were displayed at the 1867 Exposition Universel along with those of Sadahide, a member of another branch or lineage of the Utagawa school. Yoshitora was considered second only to Sadahide among nishiki-e artists around the time of the Meiji Restoration. The details of his death are unknown, but his last known work was published in 1882.
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Copyright © 2024 Geographicus Rare Antique Maps