Kawanabe Kyosai

1831 - 1899
Japan

Kawanabe Kyosai was a pupil of the printmaker Utagawa Kuniyoshi. He was more influenced, however, by the work of Tohaku, a Kano artist of the sixteenth century who was the only artist of his period to paint screens entirely in ink on a delicate background of powdered gold.

Kyosai, like Tohaku, was a master of the Chinese ink and brushpainting technique, and like Kuniyoshi he was interested in the effects of gradations of tone and spatial arrangements. Very little is known of Kyosai except that he was best known for a lively spirit and was said to have lived a riotous life, doing his best work under the influence of sake, a rice wine.