A Group of Six Bust Portraits of Beauties - Jidai Kagami [Mirror of the Ages].

£4,850 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

Toyohara Chikanobu (1838–1912), better known to his contemporaries as Yōshū Chikanobu, was one of the most successful woodblock print artists of Japan's Meiji period. He lived at a time when Japan saw the reinstatement of the emperor as ruler and underwent rapid westernisation. He worked both with traditional subjects, such as actors, courtesans, scenes of famous sites, beautiful women, and with topical subjects, such as the Satsuma Rebellion (1877) and the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). Chikanobu used the flat planes and decorative patterning of the ukiyo-e tradition to striking effect, adding brilliant colours, especially reds, purples, and blues to his compositions. More precisely, Ukiyo-e, or ukiyo-ye (in Japanese: 'pictures of the floating world'), is a genre of woodblock prints and paintings that flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries. It was aimed at the prosperous merchant class in the Edo period (1603–1867). Amongst the popular themes were depictions of beautiful women, as is the case here with these okubi-e prints (i.e. bust portraits); kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica. One of Chikanobu's best series, A Mirror of the Ages shows women by fashion and hair style throughout history. Despite a sense of longing for the past, these prints are unmistakably modern and of their time. Each print depicts a beauty from a certain period in the lower part and customs a

• Binding: Hardcover

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