
Biography
Tsukioka Gyokusei (1908-1994) was a Japanese painter and printmaker who carried forward the Tsukioka family legacy in woodblock art. She was the daughter of Tsukioka Kogyo and granddaughter by adoption of the great ukiyo-e master Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. After her father's death in 1927, Gyokusei completed his unfinished Fifty Kyogen Plays series, contributing 34 of the 50 designs. She went on to create her own acclaimed series of Noh theater prints published by Watanabe Shozaburo, establishing herself as a distinctive voice in shin-hanga.
Key Facts
- Active Period
- 1908–1994
- Nationality
- 🇯🇵Japan
- Movement
- Shin-hanga
- Works Indexed
- 36
Frequently Asked Questions
Tsukioka Gyokusei (1908-1994) was a Japanese painter and printmaker who carried forward the Tsukioka family legacy in woodblock art. She was the daughter of Tsukioka Kogyo and granddaughter by adoption of the great ukiyo-e master Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. After her father's death in 1927, Gyokusei completed his unfinished Fifty Kyogen Plays series, contributing 34 of the 50 designs. She went on to create her own acclaimed series of Noh theater prints published by Watanabe Shozaburo, establishing herself as a distinctive voice in shin-hanga.
Tsukioka Gyokusei was active from 1908 to 1994. They were associated with the Shin-hanga movement.
Tsukioka Gyokusei's work was shaped by the Shin-hanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Shin-hanga: ## What is Shin-hanga? Shin-hanga (新版画), literally "new prints," is the early twentieth-century revival of the collaborative Japanese woodblock workshop, organized between roughly 1915 and 1960 by the Tokyo publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885–1962) and a handful of competing houses.
Tsukioka Gyokusei's prints frequently feature kabuki, mythology, abstract, figures, night scenes, birds & flowers.
Original prints by Tsukioka Gyokusei can be found in collections including Art Institute of Chicago, ukiyo-e.org.
Series by Tsukioka Gyokusei
Woodblock Prints by Tsukioka Gyokusei (36)

Higeyagura, from the series "Fifty Kyogen Plays (Kyogen gojuban)"
1927 (Published)
Color woodblock print

Tosumo, from the series "Fifty Kyogen Plays (Kyogen gojuban)"
1927 (Published)
Color woodblock print

Koshiinori, from the series "Fifty Kyogen Plays (Kyogen gojuban)"
1927 (Published)
Color woodblock print

Rokujizo, from the series "Fifty Kyogen Plays (Kyogen gojuban)"
1927 (Published)
Color woodblock print

Tsuribari, from the series "Fifty Kyogen Plays (Kyogen gojuban)"
1927 (Published)
Color woodblock print

Shimizu, from the series "Fifty Kyogen Plays (Kyogen gojuban)"
1927 (Published)
Color woodblock print

Untitled (gyokusei-tsukioka)
Woodblock print

(untitled)

Dontaro, Fifty Kyogen Plays
Woodblock print

Night attack of the Soga brothers
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

Hajitomi
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

Water iris
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)