19th Century
19th Century
Utagawa Yoshiiku
The Legacy of Utagawa Yoshiiku: A Master of the Floating World In the vibrant, shifting landscape of late Edo-period Japan, few artists captured the pulse of urban life as vividly as Utagawa Yoshiiku. Born in 1833 to a teahouse proprietor in Asakusa, Yoshiiku was destined to be immersed in the very heart of the "floating world." His artistic journey began under the tutelage of the legendary Utagawa Kuniyoshi, a master whose dramatic energy and narrative prowess left an indelible mark on his pupil. During the late 1840s, as an apprentice, Yoshiiku learned the meticulous discipline of woodbloc…
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1904
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An Interactive Constellation
The Subject Atlas
A chart of Utagawa Yoshiiku's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Focus a Subject
Trace a Context
Spokes — Subject
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Rings — Career Period
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Threads — Shared Context
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.