Ichiyôsai Yoshitaki, Osakae, Original Woodcut, 1860s

Osakae is an original artwork realized in the 1861 by Ichiyôsai Yoshitaki. Woodcut print Chuban Diptych. The actor Nakamura Jakuemon I as Matsushita Kaheiji, Arashi Rikan III as Akechi Samagoro and Arashi Rikitsumaru I as Akechi Jujiro in the play Shusse Taikoki. Kaheiji receives the warrior Samagra with his son at night, both in full armour. Signed: Yoshitaki sha and Yoshitaki sha. Excellent fresh lifetime impression with black glossy print (shoes and part of Samagoro's armour), wormholes, visible wood grain (ground and purple robe), Kaheiji's robe decorated with a polished floral pattern, loose mica print in the black of the sky, backed, wormholes. Ichiyôsai Yoshitaki who was active circa 1854-1880s, was a prolific artist who began designing woodblock prints while still a teenager. By the early 1860s, when barely into his twenties, he had already become a much sought-after print designer. His nishiki-e included many hundreds in the chûban format, primarily yakusha-e, but also fûkeiga and musha-e . He also produced illustrations for nishiki-e shinbun as well as surimono . From the late Edo period and especially during the 1880s, he painted many kakemono-e on the subjects of bijinga and fûzokuga. Despite all of these varied works, Yoshitaki (and other late-period print designers) are often associated with the decline of the Osaka actor print. Indeed, although his best prints compare favorably with those of earlier artists active during the 1840s and 1850s, much of Yoshitaki's work appears rather conventional and mannered.