Of the Twelve Months: the Fifth (Junikagetsu no uchi: gogatsu)
Junikagetsu no uchi: gogatsu
About This Series
Kawanabe Kyosai's "Of the Twelve Months: the Fifth" (Junikagetsu no uchi: Gogatsu) belongs to the calendrical format that nineteenth-century ukiyo-e artists used to organize seasonal observances into a serialized publication, in which each sheet was associated with one of the twelve months and a subject appropriate to its festivals and natural phenomena. The fifth lunar month coincided with Tango no Sekku, the Boy's Day festival of carp banners, iris and sweet flag, and Kyosai's design for the month draws on the festival imagery that had been a staple of Edo print production for more than a century, treated here with the bold, fluently brushed line and energetic composition that distinguish his work from that of more conventional ukiyo-e designers. The sheet appears to belong to a series of which only a small number of designs are now recorded, and the lack of a complete published set in Western cataloguing makes precise publisher and dating attributions difficult to establish with confidence; the print is consistent with Kyosai's broader late-Edo and early Meiji production for the popular print market, in which he combined the subject matter of the established ukiyo-e tradition with the looser, more painterly brushwork he had absorbed from his Kano training. Calendrical series of this kind were a common vehicle for ukiyo-e designers across the Edo-Meiji transition, and Kyosai's contribution sits within a wider field that includes the better-known twelve-month sets of Hiroshige, Kunisada and Yoshitoshi. Impressions are held in the British Museum and in other principal Kyosai collections, and the print is best understood in the context of the artist's wider engagement with the seasonal and festival subjects that link his work to the established Edo print tradition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Kawanabe Kyosai's "Of the Twelve Months: the Fifth" (Junikagetsu no uchi: Gogatsu) belongs to the calendrical format that nineteenth-century ukiyo-e artists used to organize seasonal observances into a serialized publication, in which each sheet was associated with one of the twelve months and a subject appropriate to its festivals and natural phenomena. The fifth lunar month coincided with Tango no Sekku, the Boy's Day festival of carp banners, iris and sweet flag, and Kyosai's design for the month draws on the festival imagery that had been a staple of Edo print production for more than a century, treated here with the bold, fluently brushed line and energetic composition that distinguish his work from that of more conventional ukiyo-e designers. The sheet appears to belong to a series of which only a small number of designs are now recorded, and the lack of a complete published set in Western cataloguing makes precise publisher and dating attributions difficult to establish with confidence; the print is consistent with Kyosai's broader late-Edo and early Meiji production for the popular print market, in which he combined the subject matter of the established ukiyo-e tradition with the looser, more painterly brushwork he had absorbed from his Kano training. Calendrical series of this kind were a common vehicle for ukiyo-e designers across the Edo-Meiji transition, and Kyosai's contribution sits within a wider field that includes the better-known twelve-month sets of Hiroshige, Kunisada and Yoshitoshi. Impressions are held in the British Museum and in other principal Kyosai collections, and the print is best understood in the context of the artist's wider engagement with the seasonal and festival subjects that link his work to the established Edo print tradition.
The Of the Twelve Months: the Fifth (Junikagetsu no uchi: gogatsu) series contains 1 prints, created by Kawanabe Kyosai.
The Of the Twelve Months: the Fifth (Junikagetsu no uchi: gogatsu) series was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).
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