hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk; a beauty in profile holding an incense burner; signed Masahiko, followed by red artist's seal Murasaki, ca. 1922-26
painting: 10 1/4 by 9 3/8 in., 26 by 23.8 cm overall: 54 1/2 by 20 in., 138.4 by 50.8 cm
Torii Kotondo was born as Saito Shin in 1900 in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo. His father was Torii Kiyotada IV (Torii Kiyotada VII, 1875-1941), the fourth-generation of the Kiyotada name and the seventh-generation head of the Torii School (the traditional artists of the kabuki theater). At the age of fourteen, his father gave him his new go (art name), 'Kotondo'. Under the name of Kotondo he illustrated magazines, kabuki billboards, and theater programs. In 1915 he contributed designs of actors to the pamphlet, Shin Nigao-e (New Portraits of Actors) also known as Yakusha-e (Portraits of Actors) as did several other shin-hanga artists such as Yamamura Koka (Toyonari, 1885-1942), and Natori Shunsen (1886-1960). In 1917 Kotondo started an apprenticeship with the Nihonga (Japanese style) artist Kobori Tomone (1864-1931) who specialized in historical subjects. Following the advice of his father, later in the same year he also began studying bijinga with Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878-1972), even though Kiyokata was associated with the rival ukiyo-e school of Utagawa artists. Perhaps by 1917 the sense of competition between the schools had diminished, along with ukiyo-e itself, and Kiyokata was a logical choice as the head of a vibrant atelier who also happened to be an ardent kabuki enthusiast, which would have been a valueable resource for Kotondo as a Torii school artist.
According to his daughter, Torii Kiyomitsu (9th head of the Torii School), Kotondo used the go (art name) Masahiko for a brief period "before and after the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923)" and then reverted to using the name Kotondo on his bijinga from the beginning of the Showa period (1926-1989). In 1929 Kotondo succeeded his father and became the eighth head of the Torii School (initially taking the name Kiyonobu, before taking the name Kiyotada V in 1941). In that same year he began producing prints with the publishers Sakai and Kawaguchi, and then the following year with Ikeda.
Exhibited & Published: Torii Kotondo, Gallery Beniya, 1995, p. 7 (Torii Kiyotada IX intro); p. 43, no. 10 Exhibition of Torii Kotondo: the 100th Anniversary of his Birth, The Works of Torii Kiyotada VIII, Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 2000, p. 13, no. 10
Reference:
Andreas Marks, Seven Masters: 20th Century Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Wells Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2015, pp. 185-189 (artist's bio)
(inv. no. C-3694)
Acquired by Utah Museum of Fine Arts
price: Sold
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