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Outlaw Swords of Death: Warrior & Hero Designs 1825-45 By Kuniyoshi
Ukiyo-E Master Series: Volume Five
edited by Jack Hunter
Outlaw Swords Of Death collects over 160 of Kuniyoshi's most striking and innovative early musha-e designs and presents them in large-format and full-color throughout. The collection includes all 74 prints in the series "108 Heroes", and also a wide selection of the most dynamic images from his follow-up series "800 Heroes" (1830-36), amongst numerous other examples of the genre in which Kuniyoshi remains unsurpassed. The designs date from around 1825 to 1845, his most productive and successful period. Many of these images became standard tattoo designs for fire-fighters and yakuza gangsters.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) is regarded as one of the true masters of ukiyo-e, the populist art of Edo-period Japan. Kuniyoshi produced thousands of prints and designs during his lifetime, but is perhaps best-known for his musha-e (warrior prints), with which he came to prominence around 1830. Kuniyoshi's series "108 Heroes Of The Suikoden" was revolutionary in its dynamics, color and visual violence establishing the delirious, almost proto-psychedelic style with which the artist would recreate archetypal heroes, outlaws, and renegades from Japanese history and legend over the ensuing decades. The range of Kuniyoshi's preferred subjects also included many genres: landscapes, beautiful women, Kabuki actors, cats, and mythical animals. He is also known for his stunning depictions of the battles of samurai and legendary heroes, ghosts, and monsters.
Softcover. 192 pages. Measures 8 1/2" X 11"