Kyōsai's Idle Drawings
- Date:
- 1881
- Medium:
- Woodblock printed book, ink and color on paper
- Format:
- Oban
- Dimensions:
- 17.5 × 0.6 cm
- Source:
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
Description
A woodblock-printed book titled "Kyosai's Idle Drawings," published in 1881 and collecting the artist's most relaxed and experimental work — the sketches and caricatures he produced when not bound by commission or subject. The rakuga ("idle drawing") tradition gave artists permission to follow their imagination wherever it led, and Kyosai's idle drawings are among the most revealing documents of his creative mind: full of private jokes, unexpected juxtapositions, and subjects too strange or personal for formal publication.
More Prints by Kawanabe Kyosai
Tenpôzan in Osaka: Viewing Children's Sumo (Naniwa Tenpôzan kodomo sumô shôran), 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
1863
Woodblock print
Kyosai, Royal Academy, London, FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING
2022
Original Museum Lithographic Exhibition Poster
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
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Frequently Asked Questions
Kyōsai's Idle Drawings was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎) in 1881.
Kyōsai's Idle Drawings depicts figures and calligraphy.
Kyōsai's Idle Drawings measures 17.5 × 0.6 cm (Oban format).