School of Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi

Full Length Portrait of Guan Yu (Revered Chinese General)

"Portrait of Guan Yu" (Revered Chinese General), School of Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi: Guan Yu (Yunchang) AD 162 - 219: "A portrait of Guan Yu, the famous general and sworn brother of Liu Bei, first Emperor of Shu. His extraordinary skill as both general and tactician gained him the nickname, 'God of War', a title which is more meaningful today than it was at the time. Recognized for his peerless valour and unerring prowess in battle, many Chinese families keep wooden statues of him in their homes as a ward of protection. To this day he remains one of the most famous historical figures of East Asia, with a number of Taoist temples and Buddhist shrines dedicated to he alone. Kuniyoshi's close attention to detail should be noted here, as the giant of a man strokes characteristically at his enviable beard. In addition, his beautiful halberd, 'Blue Dragon', has been represented with impressive additions in decor, as was mentioned in his legend." * This is an original pen and ink drawing created between 1850 and 1860 on exceptionally thin mulberry (rice) paper as is usual with the 'hanshita' form. This full length portrait of Guan Yu" represents an outstanding, unique example of mid nineteenth century Japanese art.

Full Length Portrait of Guan Yu (Revered Chinese General)

View other original Japanese works of art by Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi

Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi (Japan, 1798 - 1861)
#	Image	Title & Artist	Medium	Date	Notes	-
01-		Paulownia Court: Heroic Comparisons for the Chapters of Genji (Kiritsubo:Buyu nazoraye Genji), Takenouchi no Sukune carrying Emperor Ojin by Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi	Original Woodcut (Hosoban)	c. 1844 - 1847	Published by Ibaya Senzaburo
02.-		Flowers: Snow, Moon and Flowers in Children's Games (Osana asobi sekkwagetsu no uchi) by Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi	Original Woodcut (Oban)	c. 1840 - 1850	Published by Nunoyoshikichi (Nunokichi)
03.-		Earth: Tsuchi (Prince Genji Looking at The Garden Through His Window) from the Mitate go gyo by Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi	Original Woodcut (Oban)	c. 1850	Published by Sanoya Kihei (Sano-ya Kihei)	Sold
04.-		Full Length Portrait of Guan Yu (Revered Chinese General) School of Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi	Original Pen and Ink Drawing (Hanshita)	c. 1850 - 1860
05.-		Portrait of Zhuge Liang (Famous Chinese Statesman & Military Tactician) School of Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi	Original Pen and Ink Drawing (Hanshita)	c. 1850 - 1860
06.-		Making Rare Scrolls in The Otsu-E Manner (Toki ni otsu-e kitai no maremono) by Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi	Original Woodcut (Diptych)	1848	Published by Minatoya Kohei, Kinsendo
07.-		Portrait of A Warrior by Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi	Original Woodcut (Oban)	c. 1851 - 1853		Sold
08.-		The Battle of Kurikara-dani - Series: Hokkuku O-Kassen (Two Warriors in Combat) by Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi	Original Woodcut (Oban)	c. 1852	Published by Hayashiya Shogoro	Sold

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Title:	Full Length Portrait of Guan Yu (Revered Chinese General)
Artist:	Kuniyoshi, Ichiyasai School of (Japan, 1798 - 1861)
Date:	c. 1850 - 1860
Medium:	Original Pen and Ink Drawing (Hanshita)
Note:	Mid nineteenth century Ukiyo-e art is best represented in its three most illustrious artists. The woodcuts of Hokusai and Hiroshige are permanently linked to the greatest images in Japanese landscape art. Yet the third master artist, Kuniyoshi, was equally adept at landscape, satire, figure studies and his famous legend and warrior portrayals.
	Kuniyoshi’s finest art was created from the 1830’s and into the later years of the 1850’s. After that date continuing ill health left its mark. Many of his most famous works draw from legend and history which gave him the imaginative vehicle to portray a vast spectrum of human emotions. His influence on the course of the Japanese woodcut was enormous and was directly passed on in the Meji era to his best student, Yoshitoshi.
	Unlike the Western art of drawing, Japanese drawing served almost exclusively for the production of the woodcut. The woodcut print dominated nineteenth century Japanese art and the great masters, such as Kuniyoshi, were the designers of these prints, fashioning the drawings for skilled cutters to incise the images into the blocks. For the most part these drawings were not preserved or collected and invariably the final drawing (hanshita) was destroyed in the tracing and cutting of the woodblock. Kuniyoshi and his School, however, are the exception. Many examples of both the preliminary and final drawings of this School were preserved and sometimes bound in albums and found their way to the West in the 1880’s. Large and comprehensive collections of Kuniyoshi School drawings are now housed in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden.
,	‘Hanshita’ drawings were made on exceptionally thin, almost translucent, paper in order for the block cutter to trace the image. Such is the case with this original drawing. Matthi Forrer writes, “Normally, Kuniyoshi would work out his design in sufficient detail, and to a sufficient degree of satisfaction so that a ‘clean’ copy could, without too much effort, be prepared by one of his more advanced pupils. That this drawing, preliminary to the hanshita, was prepared by Kuniyoshi’s pupils seems to have been common practice. This final state, when indeed it represented the artist’s intentions to his satisfaction, would be delivered to a professional copyist. The copyist would proceed by tracing more or less faithfully, the lines of the drawing. It was from this tracing, the hanshita, that the block cutter would work. When the tracing was completed, the sketch he worked from would probably no longer be preserved and would be thrown away. In turn, the hanshita from which the block cutter prepared the blocks, was destroyed in the process. as a result, only hanshita for prints which were never realized in print have survived.” **
	This beautiful drawing was probably conceived for an intended series of woodcuts dealing with ancient Chinese warriors and heroes. With astonishing simplicity the artist has created a masterpiece of form and grace.
	Guan Yu (Yunchang) AD 162 - 219: "A portrait of Guan Yu, the famous general and sworn brother of Liu Bei, first Emperor of Shu. His extraordinary skill as both general and tactician gained him the nickname, 'God of War', a title which is more meaningful today than it was at the time. Recognized for his peerless valour and unerring prowess in battle, many Chinese families keep wooden statues of him in their homes as a ward of protection. To this day he remains one of the most famous historical figures of East Asia, with a number of Taoist temples and Buddhist shrines dedicated to Guan Yu alone. There is one particularly imposing sculpture of the ancient Chinese warrior-god created in the image of Guan Yu. This massive statue weighs over thirteen hundred tons and towers more than fifty meters over the city of Jingzhou city in Hubei province China.
	Kuniyoshi's close attention to detail should be noted here, as the giant of a man strokes characteristically at his enviable beard. In addition, his beautiful halberd, 'Blue Dragon', has been represented with impressive additions in decor, as was mentioned in his legend." *
Reference:	* * Matthi Forrer, Drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the Collection of the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, The Hague, SDU Publishers, 1988, p. 23
Reference:	M. C. Dailey, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA, 1980.
Reference:	* The biography and commentary for "Guan Yu" is (with appreciation) contributed by' Koby S. Kirkpatrick.
Size:	11 X 7 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	Framed and Matted with 100% Archival Materials
	View larger Framed Image

Buy Now	Price: $695.00 US
Condition:	Drawn on exceptionally thin mulberry (rice) paper as is usual with the ‘hanshita’ form. In good condition throughout with the exception of a silk worm hole which has been capably restored by a previous owner who employed the same type of thin paper to the area. Full Length Portrait of Guan Yu (Revered Chinese General) represents an outstanding, unique example of mid nineteenth century Japanese art.
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