True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger, Late Edo period, sixth month of 1860

Medium:: Woodblock print
Format:: Oban
Source:: Harvard Art Museums

Typical Price

Fine Kyosai animal subject in excellent condition: $800–$3,000
Good condition animal print: $300–$1,200
Standard impression: $150–$500

Description

A second print depicting a "true picture of a live wild tiger" from 1860, produced when Kyosai was among the first Japanese artists to have direct access to a living tiger and seized the opportunity to record the animal with documentary ambition. The existence of multiple prints from this encounter suggests both the public's enormous appetite for tiger imagery and Kyosai's own fascination with the animal he would return to throughout his career. The tiger occupied in Japanese visual culture a position combining the beautiful, the terrifying, and the deeply symbolic.

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

More Animals Prints

Snake Charmers (Hebizukai)

Hebizukai

1932

Color woodblock print; oban

Hoshifuri Pine at Zen'yoji Temple in Edogawa (Edogawa-ku Zen'yoji Hoshifuri matsu), from the series "One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era (Showa dai Tokyo fukei hyaku zue hanga)"

1935

Color woodblock print; oban

Drawing for Rabbit and Boy

1964

Acrylic paint and oil pastel with oiled charcoal and ink over an ink and graphite underdrawing on paper

Rabbit and Boy

1964

Color lithograph with relief block and hand coloring; edition 35/36

Frequently Asked Questions

True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger, Late Edo period, sixth month of 1860 was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).

True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger, Late Edo period, sixth month of 1860 depicts animals, set at Tokyo.