In the downtown of Edo, people enjoyed Nishikie(color wood-block prints) such as flower and bird,landscape and beauty by Ukiyoe painters reformed into hanging scrolls with bamboo sticks fixed at the upper and lower end of the board art(Hyoso) pasted the print on to save money without buying real hanging scrolls. Two Oban-sized prints connected up and down make a same size as a small hanging scroll called Tatefuku, so this kind of dyptich is called Kakemonoe. This artwork is created by a Kuniyoshi's pupil, Yoshitora. The woman's soft look is similar to Kuniyoshi's beauty. It can be considered as created in 1859.
Diptych Good color, condition and impression Slightly soiled, a wrinkle in the upper center part of the top print
Utagawa Yoshitora was a designer of ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints and an illustrator of books and newspapers who was active from about 1850 to about 1880. He was born in Edo (modern Tokyo), but neither his date of birth nor date of death is known. He was an important pupil of Utagawa Kuniyoshi who excelled in prints of warriors, kabuki actors, beautiful women, and foreigners (Yokohama-e). According to Roberts, “It is obvious that he never saw any of the foreign scenes he depicted”.
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