Utagawa Yoshitaki

Utagawa Yoshitaki (歌川 芳滝, April 13, 1841 – June 28, 1899), who is also known as Ichiyōsai Yoshitaki (一養斎 芳滝), was a Japanese designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints who was active in both Edo (Tokyo) and Osaka. He was also a painter and newspaper illustrator. His father was a paste merchant, and Yoshitaki became a student of Utagawa Yoshiume (1819–1879). Yoshitaki was the most prolific designer of woodblock prints in Osaka from the 1860s to the 1880s, producing more than 1,200 different prints, almost all of kabuki actors.

Signatures of Utagawa Yoshitaki reading from left to right:
•“Yoshitaki ga” (芳滝　画)
•“Ichiyōsai Yoshitaki” (一養斎　芳滝)
•“Ichiyōtei Yoshitaki ga” (一養亭　芳滝　画)
•“Satonoya Yoshitaki” (里の家　芳滝)

Gallery

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  Woodblock print by Utagawa Yoshitaki of kabuki actor Enjaku Jitsukawa I as Saijō Takanori in the March 1873 Osaka Ebisu-za production of Seinan Yume Monogatari

References

• Lane, Richard, Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print, New York, Putnam, 1978, 349.
• Newland, Amy Reigle. (2005). Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints. Amsterdam: Hotei. ISBN 9789074822657; OCLC 61666175
• Roberts, Laurance P. (1976). A Dictionary of Japanese Artists. New York: Weatherhill. ISBN 9780834801134; OCLC 2005932