Taiso Yoshitoshi, Japanese (1839-1892)   

Test of a Well-Matched Couple, c. 1860  color woodblock, 7 1/4 X 9 3/4 inches. 

Signed on block and with seal lower right: "Yoshitoshi Taiso"; title inscribed on block upper left. A fine chuban yoko-e impression in fine condition with no margins.

This print comically illustrates the test of a well-matched couple. The bell's placement indicates the result of the test; since the bell, in which the couple sits, is not hanging, the couple is not a good match for each other.  

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Tsukioka (Taiso)Yoshitoshi (1839 - June 9, 1892)

He is widely recognized as the last great master of Ukiyo-e, a type of Japanese woodblock printing. He is additionally regarded as one of the form's greatest innovators. His career spanned two eras - the last years of the old feudal Japan, and the first years of the new modern Japan. Like many Japanese, while interested in the new things from the rest of the world, over time he became increasingly concerned with the loss of many outstanding things from the traditional Japan, among them the traditional woodblock print.

By the end of his career, Yoshitoshi was in an almost single-handed struggle against time and technology. As he worked on in the old manner, Japan was adopting the mass reproduction methods of the West, like photography and lithography. Nonetheless, in a Japan that was turning away from its own past, he almost single-handedly managed to push the traditional Japanese woodblock print to a new level, before it effectively died with him.

His reputation has only continued to grow, both in the West, and among younger Japanese, and he is now almost universally recognized as the greatest Japanese artist of his era.