Posted by Y Nagano on May 01, 1997 at 18:45:00:
In Reply to: Re: Toyokuni II posted by yasuko on April 23, 1997 at 20:34:30:
: : : Who is Toyokuni II?
: : : Have been wondering since I only know about I and III.
: : :
: : Toyoshige (1777-1835) was a pupil and the son-in-law of the great Toyokuni I (1769-1825). When his master died, he took the name Toyokuni only to be challenged for the honor by other pupils, including Kunisada (Toyokuni III (1786-1864)). In the end, Toyoshige retained the honor. He was an uneven artist, but capable of true genius in his portraits of women and his masterwork, "Eight Views of Lake Biwa". There will be references to him in most general survey books on Japanese prints.
: Dear Gary and other people,
: I am a novice, so please bear with me.
: In a book titled Hiroshige In Tokyo by Julian Bicknell published by Pomegranate Artbooks,
: Pge 48, bottom half, shows a print of a Japanese woman with
: distant scenery in the back, the explanation of the picture says,
: "Keisai Eisen, Beauties of the Tokaido. An image
: from a series that combined landscape.....", but the
: picture clearly shows Toyokuni-ga author seal on it.
: What should I make of it?
: I think I have also seen Kunisada with name Toyokuni II,
: I supposed that is because of the dispute that Gary explained.
Dear Yasuko,
I'd like to say something additional about Toyokuni II.
There might be some theories about the year of his birth,
1776, 1777, and 1802. Now-a-day, it is known that his
work was from about 1823 to 1835. I rather take 1802 for
the year of the birth becouse if else, it seems too late
to start working as ukiyoe artist.
There are also many episode and gossip around Toyokuni II
and Kunisada.
If you have any interest about them, welcome to my site
"Introduction about Edo City". I have bulletin board about
Edo and ukiyo-e on it.(Japanese page)