Isoda Koryūsai was born in Japan and lived from about 1735 to 1789. Isoda counts among the Ukiyoe artists and Ukiyoe means translated roughly "pictures of the flowing world". Under the term ukiyoe a group of artists was summarized, who stood for a special genre of art in the Edo period. They were mainly known for their prints, but also for their paintings. The Ukiyoe artists reflected in their works the cheerful attitude to life of a growing middle class in cities like Edo, today's Tokyo. While the term had until then been associated with a rather inhibited and contemplative attitude to life, Ukioye became a term that embodied life and enjoyment at the beginning of the 18th century.
Isoda was first a samurai of the Tsuchiya-Han, but then gave up his position to devote himself to art. He mainly created prints and his preferred format was the elongated portrait format, which was called the "post format". Until 1770 he was strongly oriented artistically towards his teachers Nishimura Shigenaga, of whom one only suspects that he taught Isoda, and Suzuki Harunobu. After that he developed his own personal style.
Isoda mainly depicted young women, in social or private scenes. One of his most famous works is certainly the series "Young Dolls in Their New Year's Clothes". It shows the courtesans of the brothel district in Edo. His works are today represented in the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Met Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, among others.
Isoda Koryūsai was born in Japan and lived from about 1735 to 1789. Isoda counts among the Ukiyoe artists and Ukiyoe means translated roughly "pictures of the flowing world". Under the term ukiyoe a group of artists was summarized, who stood for a special genre of art in the Edo period. They were mainly known for their prints, but also for their paintings. The Ukiyoe artists reflected in their works the cheerful attitude to life of a growing middle class in cities like Edo, today's Tokyo. While the term had until then been associated with a rather inhibited and contemplative attitude to life, Ukioye became a term that embodied life and enjoyment at the beginning of the 18th century.
Isoda was first a samurai of the Tsuchiya-Han, but then gave up his position to devote himself to art. He mainly created prints and his preferred format was the elongated portrait format, which was called the "post format". Until 1770 he was strongly oriented artistically towards his teachers Nishimura Shigenaga, of whom one only suspects that he taught Isoda, and Suzuki Harunobu. After that he developed his own personal style.
Isoda mainly depicted young women, in social or private scenes. One of his most famous works is certainly the series "Young Dolls in Their New Year's Clothes". It shows the courtesans of the brothel district in Edo. His works are today represented in the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Met Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, among others.
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