Category Archives: Japanese Art

The Complete Set of Hiroshige’s Hizakurige dōchū suzume, Assembled

Posted on March 21, 2022 by toshidama

This very unusual, rare print by Hiroshige is full of enigmas. The print comes from an aborted series of Tokaido Road prints illustrating the comic novels of Jippensha Ikku about the misadventures of two travellers on the Tokaido Road – … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Collector, Hiroshige, Japanese Art, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, ukiyo-e, Ukiyo-e landscape art | Tagged City Sparrows Walking the Tokaido Road, Hiroshige, Hiroshige Tokaido Road, Hizakurige dōchū suzume, Japanese prints, Japanese Woodblock Prints, Ukiyo-e | Leave a comment

Tales in Japanese Woodblock Prints

Posted on February 9, 2022 by toshidama

The January 2022 exhibition at the Toshidama Gallery looks at prints that tell a story… which is of course the vast majority of the output of Japanese kabuki theatre and history prints. The absence of still-life for example, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Edo, firemen, Floating World, Hirosada, Japanese Art, japanese woodblock prints, ukiyo-e, ukiyo-e art, Uncategorized | Tagged Japanese prints, Japanese Woodblock Prints, Kabuki, Kunichika, Kunisada, Toshidama Gallery, Ukiyo-e | Leave a comment

Telegraph Poles and Marcel Duchamp, Yoshimori and Puvis de Chavannes

Posted on October 19, 2021 by toshidama

The enigmatic picture above by the Japanese artist Yoshimori, is something of a favourite. It belongs to a long series of prints by various artists celebrating the many post stations along the long Tokaido Highway that connects the administrative capital … Continue reading →

Posted in Aesthetic Movement, Floating World, Japanese Art, Toshidama Gallery., ukiyo-e, ukiyo-e art, Uncategorized | Tagged Cols Alites, Large Glass, Marcel Duchamp, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Yoshimori | Leave a comment

A Simple Guide To Popular Osaka Woodblock Prints

Posted on October 1, 2021 by toshidama

This very lovely Osaka woodblock print from 1839 is by a great Japanese artist called Sadamasu. One of the most frequent questions we are asked at the Toshidama Gallery is why prints produced in the city of Osaka are so … Continue reading →

Posted in Edo, Hirosada, Japanese Art, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunisada, Osaka Prints, Osaka School, ukiyo-e, Yoshitaki | Tagged Edo, Gonpachi, Hirosada, Japanese prints, Japanese Woodblock Prints, Kabuki, kamigata-e, Kunisada, Osaka School, Sadamasu, Ukiyo-e, Yoshitaki | Leave a comment

Yeats, Pound, T S Eliot and Japanese Theatre

Posted on April 19, 2021 by toshidama

The first performance of At The Hawk’s Well was on 2nd April in the drawing room of Cunard’s Mayfair house. The work was performed in part by the Japanese dancer Michio Ito Continue reading →

Posted in Aesthetic Movement, Asian Art, Edo, Japanese Art, kabuki theatre, ukiyo-e, Uncategorized, Upside-down Man, Woodblock print, Wyndham Lewis, yakusha-e | Tagged Ezra Pound, Michio Ito, T S Eliot, The Hawk's Well, W B Yeats | 1 Comment

A Japanese Inspired Poster by Annie Offterdinger

Posted on June 29, 2020 by toshidama

I was very struck recently by a book of original Art Deco designs that came up at auction, one of which was a fashion plate, or poster by a less known German illustrator, Annie Offterdinger. What struck me so much … Continue reading →

Posted in Japanese Art, japanese woodblock prints, Kunichika, Paul Gauguin, ukiyo-e | Tagged floating world, German Art Deco, Japanese prints, Kunichika, Offterdinger, Ukiyo-e | 1 Comment

A Portrait of Ichimura Uzaemon XIII

Posted on May 8, 2020 by toshidama

On these pages are some light hearted guides to the villains and heroes of the kabuki stage. We’re calling them ‘Kabuki All-stars’. The current exhibition at the Toshidama Gallery called Ten Artists of the Floating World, features twenty three prints … Continue reading →

Posted in Hiroshige, Japanese Art, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunisada, ukiyo-e, ukiyo-e art, Uncategorized | Tagged floating world, Hiroshige, Ichimura Uzaemon XIII, Kabuki, Kunisada, Moronobu, Nishiki-e, Timon Screech, Ukiyo-e, Willem van Royen | Leave a comment

Jasper Johns: Skin and Oshiguma

Posted on May 6, 2020 by toshidama

The print pictured above is by the outstanding American artist Jasper Johns. The print was made by Johns coating his skin with oil and then impressing his face and hands onto a sensitised litho plate. Charcoal was rubbed onto the … Continue reading →