Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1839-1892

Morning Separation in the Pleasure Quarter
(Karine no kinuginu)

signed Gyokuo Yoshitoshi ga with artist's Kiri seal, publisher's seal Jin (Maruya Jinpachi of Tokokudo), and with combined censor and date seal Saru-ju, aratame (year of the monkey [1860], 10th lunar month, examined)

oban tate-e triptych 14 5/8 by 29 5/8 in., 37.1 by 75.1 cm

This rare triptych is an early composition by Yoshitoshi which he designed at the age of twenty-one while he still was working in the atelier of his teacher Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861). As opposed to his later designs, which present the development of Yoshitoshi's unique stylistic impulses, this classic depiction of bijin in the Utagawa style is particularly reminiscent of the work of Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III, 1786-1865). The two women in the left and center sheets in varying stages of deshabille are courtesans finishing up with their clients. On the verandah, a maid assists a customer with his haori as he prepares to depart, and beyond the balcony we see blossoming cherry trees which indicates they are on the second floor of a house of assignation facing the central Nakanocho street in the Yoshiwara pleasure district.

References:
Keyes 1983, p. 345, no. 30
Akita Museum of Modern Art 1999, p. 40, no. 153
Newland & Uhlenbeck 2011, pp. 10-12 (re: career)
Ota Memorial Museum of Art 2012, p. 21, no. 6

SOLD