Tiger on Standing Screen and Painting Tools
- Date:
- 1878
- Medium:
- Woodblock print (surimono); ink, color, and metallic pigments on paper
- Format:
- Oban
- Dimensions:
- 22.9 × 21.6 cm
- Source:
- Harvard Art Museums
Description
A surimono (luxury private-commission print) depicting both a tiger on a standing screen and the tools of painting — brushes, ink stone, water dropper — creating a visual dialogue between the depicted tiger and the means of its depiction. The composition reflects Kyosai's sophisticated self-awareness as an artist: the tiger is simultaneously a subject and an emblem of the painter's power (the tiger requiring the same fierce concentration to paint as to confront in life), while the painting tools remind the viewer that this tiger exists only because a brush brought it into being. Produced in 1878 with ink, color, and metallic pigments on paper.
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
Gontazaka, 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
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Frequently Asked Questions
Tiger on Standing Screen and Painting Tools was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎) in 1878.
Tiger on Standing Screen and Painting Tools depicts interiors and animals.
Tiger on Standing Screen and Painting Tools measures 22.9 × 21.6 cm (Oban format).