Utagawa Yoshitora

Utagawa Yoshitora 芳虎 worked and lived in Edo. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown, but he was an important pupil of Kuniyoshi. Yoshitora worked in many different genres, from actor portraits to cityscapes of Tokyo, but he is best known for his warrior and Yokohama prints. With the Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854, Japan opened to American trade at Yokohama. Yokohama's present Japan's early impression of the Westerners arriving in this port city. Yoshitora was a leading designer of these prints, revealing the appearance and inventions of these foreigners. In addition, Yoshitora produced prints of foreign scenes, based not on personal observation, but derived from Western engravings. Today, his works reside in such celebrated collections as the British Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Submitted by Ronin Gallery