Background
He was born at Koga in the province of Shimotsuke, Japan, in 1831.
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Sho-Fu Kyosai
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also known as
Kawanabe Toyoku
Education
He received his artistic training in the studio of Kano Dohaku, but soon abandoned the formal traditions of his master for the greater freedom of the popular school
Career
He worked for a short time as a boy with Utagawa Kuniyoshi. During the political ferment which produced and followed the revolution of 1867, Kyosai attained a considerable reputation as a caricaturist. He was three times arrested and imprisoned by the authorities of the shogunate. Soon after the assumption of effective power by the mikado, a great congress of painters and men of letters was held, at which Kyosai was present. He again expressed his opinion of the new movement in a caricature, which had a great popular success, but also brought him into the hands of the police- this time of the opposite party.
His work-like his life-is somewhat wild and undisciplined, and "occasionally smacks of the sake cup. " He substituted an exuberant fancy, which always lends interest to draughtsmanship of very great technical excellence. A fine collection of his works is preserved in the British Museum; and there are also good examples in the National Art Library at South Kensington, and the Musee Guimet at Paris.
Among his illustrated books may be mentioned Yehon Taka-kagami, Illustrations of Hawks (5 vols. , 1870, &c. ); Kyosai Gwafu (1880); Kyosai Dongwa; Kyosai Raku-gwa; Kydsai Riaku-gwa; Kyosai Mangwa (1881); Kyosai Suigwa (1882); and Kydsai Gwaden (1887). The latter is illustrated by him under the name of Kawanabe Toyoku, and two of its four volumes are devoted to an account of his own art and life. He died in 1889.
Achievements
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Kyosai must be considered the greatest successor of Hokusai and as the first political caricaturist of Japan. In addition to his caricatures, Kyosai painted a large number of pictures and sketches, often choosing subjects from the folk-lore of his country. The most important work about Kyōsai's art and life was written by himself: Kyōsai Gadan, or "Kyōsai's Treatise on Painting", half autobiography and half painting manual.
The Kawanabe Kyōsai Memorial Museum was established in 1977, located at Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
The critic said about him: "an individualist and an independent, perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting".
