「暁斎楽画 一」
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Ritsumeikan University
- Image courtesy of
- Ritsumeikan University
Description
The first print in Kyōsai's Rakuga series, a set of humorous and satirical woodblock prints whose title — roughly 'Kyōsai's Carefree Pictures' — signals the artist's deliberately playful, unrestrained approach to subject matter. Published in the 1870s, the Rakuga series represents Kyōsai's engagement with popular nishiki-e publishing during the Meiji transformation. While the specific image content of this first sheet is not recoverable from the title alone, the series as a whole drew on Kyōsai's repertoire of supernatural creatures, comic animals, grotesque figures, and social observation. His woodblock work in this period retains the spontaneous energy of his painting, with carvers translating the variable weight and speed of his brushwork into crisp, expressive lines.
More Prints by Kawanabe Kyosai
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
Old Picture of the Rashômon Gate (Rashômon no ko zu), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho tsuzuki
Woodblock print
Tsukishimadera Temple in Hyôgo (Hyôgo Tsukishimadera), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi
Woodblock print
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
Frequently Asked Questions
「暁斎楽画 一」 was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).