Utagawa Toyoharu

Utagawa Toyoharu (1734-1814), the teacher of Toyokuni I, contributed greatly to the early development of pure landscape IN AND FOR ITSELF in ukiyo-e, utilizing a western perspective technique. The result is the 'uki-e' landscape; the same landscape technique that served Kiyonaga so well as a background foil for his magnificent figural compositions. It would be difficult to imagine artists like Hokusai without the earlier contribution of Toyoharu (or for that matter Torii Kiyonaga). We show here an excellent example of the bridge between ukiyo-e and western perspective.

Research by: Howard A. Link.