Yayoi Kusama is unlikely to be able to answer what formed the basis of her career as an artist. She is 87 years old, her art is recognized throughout the world. There will soon be major exhibitions of her work in the US and Japan, but she hasn't told the world everything yet. “It’s still on its way. I'm going to create this in the future," says Kusama. She is called the most successful artist in Japan. In addition, she is the most expensive living artist: in 2014, her painting “White No. 28” was sold for $7.1 million.
Kusama lives in Tokyo and has been voluntarily staying in a mental hospital for almost forty years. Once a day she leaves its walls to paint. She gets up at three o'clock in the morning, unable to sleep and wanting to spend her time productively at work. “I'm old now, but I'm still going to create more works and best works. More than I've done in the past. My mind is full of pictures,” she says.
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Yayoi Kusama at an exhibition of his work in London in 1985. Photo: NILS JORGENSEN/REX/Shutterstock
From nine to six, Kusama works in his three-story studio from the comfort of a wheelchair. She can walk, but is too weak. A woman works on canvas laid out on tables or fixed to the floor. The studio is full of new paintings, bright works strewn with small specks. The artist calls this "self-silencing" - endless repetition that drowns out the noise in her head.
Before the 2006 Praemium Imperiale art awards in Tokyo. Photo: Sutton-Hibbert/REX/Shutterstock
A new gallery is opening soon across the street, and another museum of her art is being built north of Tokyo. In addition, two major exhibitions of her work are opening. “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors,” a retrospective of her 65-year career, opened at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington on February 23 and runs through May 14, before traveling to Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto and Cleveland. The exhibition includes 60 paintings by Kusama.
Her polka dots cover everything from Louis Vuitton dresses to buses in her hometown. Kusama's work regularly sells for millions of dollars and can be found all over the world, from New York to Amsterdam. Exhibitions of the Japanese artist's works are so popular that measures are required to prevent crowds and riots. For example, in the Hirshhorn, tickets to the exhibition are sold for a certain time in order to somehow regulate the flow of visitors.
Presentation of the joint design of Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama in New York in 2012. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency/REX/Shutterstock
But Kusama still needs outside approval. When asked in an interview whether she had achieved her goal of becoming rich and famous decades ago, she said in surprise: “When I was little, it was very difficult for me to convince my mother that I wanted to become an artist. Is it really true that I'm rich and famous?
Kusama was born in Matsumoto, in the mountains of central Japan, in 1929 into a wealthy and conservative family that sold seedlings. But it was not a happy home. Her mother despised her cheating husband and sent little Kusama to spy on him. The girl saw her father with other women, and this gave her a lifelong aversion to sex.
Louis Vuitton boutique window designed by Kusama in 2012. Photo: Joe Schildhorn/BFA/REX/Shutterstock
As a child, she began experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations. The first time she saw the pumpkin, she imagined that it was talking to her. The future artist coped with the visions by creating repeating patterns to drown out the thoughts in her head. Even at such a young age, art became a kind of therapy for her, which she would later call “art medicine.”
Yayoi Kusama's work on display at the Museum contemporary art Whitney in 2012. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency/REX/Shutterstock
Kusama's mother was strongly opposed to her daughter's desire to become an artist and insisted that the girl follow the traditional path. “She wouldn’t let me draw. She wanted me to get married,” the artist said in an interview. - She threw away my work. I wanted to throw myself under a train. Every day I fought with my mother, and therefore my mind was damaged.”
In 1948, after the end of the war, Kusama went to Kyoto to study traditional Japanese painting nihonga with strict rules. She hated this type of art.
One of the exhibits from the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art in 2012. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency/REX/Shutterstock
When Kusama lived in Matsumoto, she found a book by Georgia O'Keeffe and was amazed by its paintings. The girl went to the American embassy in Tokyo to find an article about O’Keefe in the directory there and find out her address. Kusama wrote her a letter and sent her some drawings, and to her surprise, the American artist replied to her.
“I couldn’t believe my luck! She was so kind that she responded to the sudden outburst of feelings from the modest Japanese girls, whom she had never met in her life or even heard of,” the artist wrote in her autobiography “Infinity Net.”
Yayoi Kusama in her Louis Vuitton boutique window display in New York in 2012. Photo: Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock
Despite O'Keeffe's warnings that life was very difficult for young artists in the United States, not to mention single young girls in Japan, Kusama was unstoppable. In 1957, she managed to obtain a passport and visa. She sewed dollars into her dresses to circumvent strict post-war currency controls.
The first stop was Seattle, where she held an exhibition in a small gallery. Then Kusama went to New York, where she was bitterly disappointed. “Unlike post-war Matsumoto, New York was in every sense an evil and violent place. It turned out to be too stressful for me, and I soon became mired in neurosis.” To make matters worse, Kusama found herself in complete poverty. An old door served as her bed, and she fished fish heads and rotten vegetables from trash cans to make soup from.
Installation Infinity Mirror Room - Love Forever (“Room with infinity mirrors - love forever”). Photo: Tony Kyriacou/REX/Shutterstock
This difficult situation prompted Kusama to immerse himself in his work even more. She began creating her first paintings in the Infinity Net series, covering huge canvases (one of them was 10 meters high) with mesmerizing waves of small loops that seemed to never end. The artist herself described them as follows: “White networks enveloping black dots of silent death against the backdrop of the hopeless darkness of nothingness.”
Installation by Yayoi Kusama at the opening of the new building of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art at the Gorky Park in Moscow in 2015. Photo: David X Prutting/BFA.com/REX/Shutterstock
This obsessive-compulsive repetition helped drive away the neurosis, but it did not always save. Kusama constantly suffered from bouts of psychosis and ended up in a New York hospital. Being ambitious and purposeful and happily accepting the role of an exotic Asian woman in a kimono, she joined the crowd of influential people in art and communicated with such recognized artists, like Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol. Kusama later said that Warhol imitated her work.
Kusama soon gained a degree of fame and exhibited in crowded galleries. In addition, the artist’s fame became scandalous.
In the 1960s, when Kusama was obsessed with polka dots, she began organizing happenings in New York: she provoked people to strip naked in places such as Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge, and painted their bodies with polka dots.
Pre-display at Art Basel in Hong Kong in 2013. Photo: Billy Farrell/BFA/REX/Shutterstock
Decades before the Occupy Wall Street movement, Kusama staged a happening in New York's financial district, declaring that she wanted to "destroy the men of Wall Street with polka dots." Around this time, she began to cover various objects - a chair, a boat, a stroller - with phallic-looking protuberances. “I started creating penises to cure my feelings of aversion to sex,” the artist wrote, describing how this creative process gradually turning the terrible into something familiar.
Installation "Passing Winter" at the Tate Gallery in London. Photo: James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock
Kusama never married, although she had a marriage-like relationship with artist Joseph Cornell for ten years while living in New York. “I didn’t like sex, and he was impotent, so we suited each other very well,” she said in an interview with Art Magazine.
Kusama became increasingly famous for her antics: she offered to sleep with US President Richard Nixon if he would end the war in Vietnam. “Let’s decorate each other with polka dots,” she wrote to him in a letter. Interest in her art itself faded away, she found herself out of favor, and money problems began again.
Yayoi Kusama during a retrospective of her work at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2012. Photo: Steve Eichner/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock
News of Kusama's escapades reached Japan. She began to be called a “national disaster,” and her mother said that it would be better if her daughter died from the disease in childhood. In the early 1970s, impoverished and failed, Kusama returned to Japan. She registered in a psychiatric hospital, where she still lives, and sank into artistic obscurity.
In 1989, the Center for Contemporary Art in New York staged a retrospective of her work. This was the beginning, albeit slow, of a revival of interest in Kusama’s art. She filled a mirrored room with pumpkins for an installation that was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and had a major exhibition at MoMa in New York in 1998. This is where she once staged a happening.
At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock
Over the past few years, Yayoi Kusama has become an international phenomenon. Modern gallery The Tate in London and the Whitney Museum in New York held major retrospectives that attracted huge crowds of visitors, and her iconic polka dot pattern became highly recognizable.
At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock
The artist has no plans to stop working, but has begun to think about her mortality. “I don’t know how long I can survive even after death. There is a future generation that follows in my footsteps. It will be an honor for me if people enjoy looking at my work and if they are moved by my art.”
At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock
Despite the commercialization of her art, Kusama thinks about the grave in Matsumoto - not in the family crypt, she inherited it from her parents anyway - and how not to turn it into a shrine. “But I’m not dying yet. I think I will live another 20 years,” she says.
At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock
Japanese painting is an absolutely unique movement in world art. It has existed since ancient times, but as a tradition it has not lost its popularity and ability to surprise.
Attention to traditions
The East is not only landscapes, mountains and rising sun. These are also the people who created his story. It is these people who have supported the tradition of Japanese painting for many centuries, developing and enhancing their art. Those who made a significant contribution to history are Japanese artists. Thanks to them, modern ones have retained all the canons of traditional Japanese painting.
Manner of execution of paintings
Unlike Europe, Japanese artists preferred to paint closer to graphics than to painting. In such paintings you will not find the rough, careless oil strokes that are so characteristic of the Impressionists. What is the graphic nature of such art as Japanese trees, rocks, animals and birds - everything in these paintings is drawn as clearly as possible, with solid and confident ink lines. All objects in the composition must have an outline. Filling inside the outline is usually done with watercolors. The color is washed out, other shades are added, and somewhere the color of the paper is left. Decorativeness is precisely what distinguishes Japanese paintings from the art of the whole world.
Contrasts in painting
Contrast is another characteristic technique used by Japanese artists. This could be a difference in tone, color, or the contrast of warm and cool shades.
The artist resorts to this technique when he wants to highlight some element of the subject. This could be a vein on a plant, a separate petal, or a tree trunk against the sky. Then the light, illuminated part of the object and the shadow under it are depicted (or vice versa).
Transitions and color solutions
When painting Japanese paintings, transitions are often used. They can be different: for example, from one color to another. On the petals of water lilies and peonies you can notice the transition from light shade to a rich, bright color.
Transitions are also used in the image of the water surface and sky. The smooth transition from sunset to dark, deepening twilight looks very beautiful. When drawing clouds, transitions from different shades and reflexes are also used.
Basic motives of Japanese painting
In art, everything is interconnected with real life, with the feelings and emotions of those involved in it. As in literature, music and other forms of creativity, there are several eternal themes in painting. These are historical subjects, images of people and nature.
Japanese landscapes come in many varieties. Often in paintings there are images of ponds - a favorite piece of furniture for the Japanese. A decorative pond, several water lilies and bamboo nearby - this is what a typical picture of the 17th-18th century looks like.
Animals in Japanese painting
Animals are also a frequently recurring element in Asian painting. Traditionally it is a prowling tiger or a domestic cat. In general, Asians are very fond of and therefore their representatives are found in all forms of oriental art.
The world of fauna is another theme that Japanese painting follows. Birds - cranes, decorative parrots, luxurious peacocks, swallows, inconspicuous sparrows and even roosters - all of them are found in the drawings of oriental masters.
Pisces - no less hot topic for Japanese artists. Koi carp are the Japanese version of goldfish. These creatures live in Asia in all ponds, even in small parks and gardens. Koi carp is a kind of tradition that belongs specifically to Japan. These fish symbolize struggle, determination, and achieving your goal. It’s not for nothing that they are depicted floating with the flow, always with decorative wave crests.
Japanese paintings: depiction of people
People in Japanese painting are a special theme. Artists depicted geishas, emperors, warriors and elders.
Geishas are depicted surrounded by flowers, always wearing elaborate robes with many folds and elements.
Sages are depicted sitting or explaining something to their students. The image of the old scientist is a symbol of the history, culture and philosophy of Asia.
The warrior was portrayed as formidable, sometimes terrifying. The long ones were drawn in detail and looked like wire.
Usually all the details of the armor are clarified using ink. Often naked warriors are decorated with tattoos depicting an eastern dragon. It is a symbol of Japan's strength and military might.
Rulers were depicted for imperial families. Beautiful clothes and decorations in men’s hair are what such works of art abound in.
Landscapes
Traditional Japanese landscape - mountains. Asian painters have succeeded in depicting a variety of landscapes: they can depict the same peak in different colors, with a different atmosphere. The only thing that remains unchanged is the obligatory presence of flowers. Usually, together with the mountains, the artist depicts some kind of plant in the foreground and draws it in detail. The mountains and cherry blossoms look beautiful. And if they paint falling petals, the picture evokes admiration for its sad beauty. The contrast in the atmosphere of the picture is another wonderful quality of Japanese culture.
Hieroglyphs
Often the composition of a picture in Japanese painting is combined with writing. The hieroglyphs are arranged so that they look beautiful compositionally. They are usually drawn on the left or right of the painting. Hieroglyphs can represent what is depicted in the painting, its title, or the name of the artist.
Japan is one of the richest countries in history and culture. All over the world, the Japanese are generally considered to be pedantic people who find aesthetics in absolutely all manifestations of life. Therefore, Japanese paintings are always very harmonious in color and tone: if there are splashes of some bright color, it is only in the semantic centers. Using paintings by Asian artists as an example, you can study color theory, correct representation of form using graphics, and composition. The technique of execution of Japanese paintings is so high that it can serve as an example for working with watercolors and performing “washing” of graphic works.
Hokusai, an 18th-century Japanese artist, created a dizzying number artwork. Hokusai worked into old age, invariably asserting that “everything he did before the age of 70 was not worthwhile and not worth attention.”
Perhaps the most famous Japanese artist in the world, he always stood out from his fellow contemporaries for his interest in everyday life. Instead of depicting glamorous geishas and heroic samurai, Hokusai painted workers, fishermen, and urban genre scenes, which were not yet a subject of interest to Japanese art. He also took a European approach to composition.
Here's a short list of key terms to help you navigate Hokusai's work a little.
1 Ukiyo-e are prints and paintings popular in Japan from the 1600s to the 1800s. A movement in Japanese fine art that has developed since the Edo period. This term comes from the word "ukyo", which means "changeable world". Uikiye is a hint at the hedonistic joys of the burgeoning merchant class. In this direction, Hokusai is the most famous artist.
Hokusai used at least thirty pseudonyms throughout his life. Despite the fact that the use of pseudonyms was a common practice among Japanese artists of that time, he significantly surpassed other major authors in the number of pseudonyms. Hokusai's pseudonyms are often used to periodize the stages of his work.
2 The Edo period is the time between 1603 and 1868 in Japanese history, when economic growth and a new interest in art and culture were noted.
3 Shunrō is the first of Hokusai's aliases.
4 Shunga literally means "picture of spring" and "spring" is Japanese slang for sex. So these are engravings erotic in nature. They were created by the most respected artists, including Hokusai.
5 Surimono. The latest “surimono,” as these custom prints were called, were a huge success. Unlike ukiyo-e prints, which were intended for mass audiences, surimono were rarely sold to the general public.
6 Mount Fuji is a symmetrical mountain that happens to be the tallest in Japan. Over the years, it has inspired many artists and poets, including Hokusai, who published the ukiyo-e series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. This series includes Hokusai's most famous prints.
7 Japonism is the lasting influence that Hokusai had on subsequent generations of Western artists. Japonism is a style inspired bright colors ukiyo-e prints, lack of perspective and compositional experiments.
If you think that all great artists are in the past, then you have no idea how wrong you are. In this article you will learn about the most famous and talented artists of our time. And, believe me, their works will remain in your memory no less deeply than the works of maestros from past eras.
Wojciech Babski
Wojciech Babski is a contemporary Polish artist. He completed his studies at the Silesian Polytechnic Institute, but associated himself with. IN lately draws mainly women. Focuses on the expression of emotions, strives to obtain the greatest possible effect using simple means.
Loves color, but often uses shades of black and gray to achieve the best impression. Not afraid to experiment with different new techniques. Recently, he has been gaining increasing popularity abroad, mainly in the UK, where he successfully sells his works, which can already be found in many private collections. In addition to art, he is interested in cosmology and philosophy. Listens to jazz. Currently lives and works in Katowice.
Warren Chang
Warren Chang is a contemporary American artist. Born in 1957 and raised in Monterey, California, he graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1981, where he received a BFA. Over the next two decades, he worked as an illustrator for various companies in California and New York before embarking on a career as a professional artist in 2009.
His realistic paintings can be divided into two main categories: biographical interior paintings and paintings depicting people at work. His interest in this style of painting dates back to the work of the 16th century artist Johannes Vermeer, and extends to subjects, self-portraits, portraits of family members, friends, students, studio interiors, classrooms and homes. Its goal is to realistic paintings create mood and emotion through the manipulation of light and the use of muted colors.
Chang became famous after switching to traditional fine arts. Over the past 12 years, he has earned numerous awards and honors, the most prestigious of which is the Master Signature from the Oil Painters of America, the largest oil painting community in the United States. Only one person out of 50 is given the opportunity to receive this award. Warren currently lives in Monterey and works in his studio, and he also teaches (known as a talented teacher) at the San Francisco Academy of Art.
Aurelio Bruni
Aurelio Bruni – Italian artist. Born in Blair, October 15, 1955. He received a diploma in scenography from the Institute of Art in Spoleto. As an artist, he is self-taught, as he independently “built a house of knowledge” on the foundation laid in school. He began painting in oils at the age of 19. Currently lives and works in Umbria.
Bruni's early paintings are rooted in surrealism, but over time he begins to focus on the proximity of lyrical romanticism and symbolism, enhancing this combination with the exquisite sophistication and purity of his characters. Animated and inanimate objects acquire equal dignity and look almost hyper-realistic, but at the same time they do not hide behind a curtain, but allow you to see the essence of your soul. Versatility and sophistication, sensuality and loneliness, thoughtfulness and fruitfulness are the spirit of Aurelio Bruni, nourished by the splendor of art and the harmony of music.
Aleksander Balos
Alkasander Balos is a contemporary Polish artist specializing in oil painting. Born in 1970 in Gliwice, Poland, but since 1989 he has lived and worked in the USA, in Shasta, California.
As a child, he studied art under the guidance of his father Jan, a self-taught artist and sculptor, so he early age, artistic activity received full support from both parents. In 1989, at the age of eighteen, Balos left Poland for the United States, where he school teacher and part-time artist Katie Gaggliardi encouraged Alkasander to enroll in art school. Balos then received a full scholarship to the University of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he studied painting with philosophy professor Harry Rosin.
After graduating in 1995 with a bachelor's degree, Balos moved to Chicago to attend school fine arts, whose methods are based on the work of Jacques-Louis David. Figurative realism and portraiture were most of Balos' works in the 90s and early 2000s. Today, Balos uses the human figure to highlight the characteristics and shortcomings of human existence, without offering any solutions.
The subject compositions of his paintings are intended to be independently interpreted by the viewer, only then will the paintings acquire their true temporal and subjective meaning. In 2005, the artist moved to Northern California, since then the subject matter of his work has expanded significantly and now includes freer painting methods, including abstraction and various multimedia styles that help express ideas and ideals of existence through painting.
Alyssa Monks
Alyssa Monks is a contemporary American artist. Born in 1977, in Ridgewood, New Jersey. I began to be interested in painting when I was still a child. Studied at the New School in New York and State University Montclair and graduated from Boston College in 1999 with a B.A. At the same time, she studied painting at the Lorenzo de' Medici Academy in Florence.
Then she continued her studies in the master's degree program at the New York Academy of Art, in the department of Figurative Art, graduating in 2001. She graduated from Fullerton College in 2006. For some time she lectured at universities and educational institutions throughout the country, she taught painting at the New York Academy of Art, as well as Montclair State University and Lyme Academy of Art College.
“Using filters such as glass, vinyl, water and steam, I distort the human body. These filters allow you to create large areas of abstract design, with islands of color peeking through - parts of the human body.
My paintings change the modern view of the already established, traditional poses and gestures of bathing women. They could tell an attentive viewer a lot about such seemingly self-evident things as the benefits of swimming, dancing, and so on. My characters press themselves against the glass of the shower window, distorting their own bodies, realizing that in doing so they influence the notorious male gaze on naked woman. Thick layers of paint are mixed to imitate glass, steam, water and flesh from afar. However, up close, the amazing physical properties become apparent. oil paint. By experimenting with layers of paint and color, I find a point where abstract brushstrokes become something else.
When I first started painting the human body, I was immediately fascinated and even obsessed with it and believed that I had to make my paintings as realistic as possible. I “professed” realism until it began to unravel and reveal contradictions in itself. I am now exploring the possibilities and potential of a style of painting where representational painting and abstraction meet – if both styles can coexist at the same moment in time, I will do so.”
Antonio Finelli
Italian artist – “ Time Observer” – Antonio Finelli was born on February 23, 1985. Currently lives and works in Italy between Rome and Campobasso. His works have been exhibited in several galleries in Italy and abroad: Rome, Florence, Novara, Genoa, Palermo, Istanbul, Ankara, New York, and can also be found in private and public collections.
Pencil drawings “ Time Observer"Antonio Finelli takes us on an eternal journey through inner world human temporality and the associated scrupulous analysis of this world, the main element of which is the passage through time and the traces it makes on the skin.
Finelli paints portraits of people of any age, gender and nationality, whose facial expressions indicate passage through time, and the artist also hopes to find evidence of the mercilessness of time on the bodies of his characters. Antonio defines his works with one, general title: “Self-portrait”, because in his pencil drawings he not only depicts a person, but allows the viewer to contemplate the real results of the passage of time inside a person.
Flaminia Carloni
Flaminia Carloni is a 37-year-old Italian artist, the daughter of a diplomat. She has three children. She lived in Rome for twelve years, and for three years in England and France. She received a degree in art history from the BD School of Art. Then she received a diploma as an art restorer. Before finding her calling and devoting herself entirely to painting, she worked as a journalist, colorist, designer, and actress.
Flaminia's passion for painting arose in childhood. Her main medium is oil because she loves to “coiffer la pate” and also play with the material. She recognized a similar technique in the works of artist Pascal Torua. Flaminia is inspired by great masters of painting such as Balthus, Hopper, and François Legrand, as well as various artistic movements: street art, Chinese realism, surrealism and Renaissance realism. Her favorite artist is Caravaggio. Her dream is to discover the therapeutic power of art.
Denis Chernov
Denis Chernov - talented Ukrainian artist, born in 1978 in Sambir, Lviv region, Ukraine. After graduating from Kharkov art school in 1998 he stayed in Kharkov, where he currently lives and works. He also studied in Kharkov State Academy design and arts, department of graphics, graduated in 2004.
He regularly participates in art exhibitions, at the moment more than sixty of them took place, both in Ukraine and abroad. Most of Denis Chernov's works are kept in private collections in Ukraine, Russia, Italy, England, Spain, Greece, France, USA, Canada and Japan. Some of the works were sold at Christie's.
Denis works in a wide range of graphic and painting techniques. Pencil drawings are one of his most favorite painting methods, a list of his topics pencil drawings is also very diverse, he paints landscapes, portraits, nudes, genre compositions, book illustrations, literary and historical reconstructions and fantasies.
Do you love Japanese painting? How much do you know about famous people? Japanese artists? Let us consider with you in this article the most famous artists Japan who created their works in the ukiyo-e (浮世絵) style. This style of painting developed from the Edo period. The hieroglyphs used to write this style 浮世絵 literally mean “pictures (images) of a changing world”; you can read more about this direction of painting
Hishikawa Moronobu(菱川師宣, 1618-1694). He is considered the founder of the ukiyo-e genre, although, in fact, he is only the first master about whose life biographical information has been preserved. Moronobu was born into the family of a master of fabric dyeing and embroidery with gold and silver threads and has been engaged in the family craft for a long time, so a distinctive feature of his work is the beautifully decorated clothes of beauties, giving a wonderful artistic effect.
Having moved to Edo, he first studied painting techniques on his own, and then his studies were continued by the artist Kambun.
We have reached us mainly from Moronobu's albums, in which he depicts historical and literary subjects and books with kimono patterns. The master also worked in the shunga genre, and among individual works several depicting beautiful women have survived. 
(鳥居清長, 1752-1815). Recognized at the end of the 18th century, the master Seki (Sekiguchi) Shinsuke (Ishibei) bore the pseudonym Torii Kiyonaga, which he took upon inheriting Torii's ukiyo-e school from Torii Kiyomitsu after the latter's death.
Kiyonaga was born into the family of bookseller Shirakoya Ishibei. The genre of bijinga brought him the greatest fame, although he began with yakusha-e. Subjects for engravings in the bijinga genre were taken from everyday life: walks, festive processions, going out into nature. Among the artist’s many works, the series “Contests of fashionable beauties from cheerful quarters”, depicting Minami, one of the “fun quarters” in the south of Edo, “12 portraits of southern beauties”, “10 types of tea shops” stand out. Distinctive feature The master was a detailed study of the background view and the use of techniques that came from the West to depict light and space.
Kiyonaga gained initial fame with the 1782 resumption of the series “Fashion Samples: Models New as Spring Leaves,” begun by Koryusai in the 1770s for the publisher Nishimurai Yohachi.
(喜多川歌麿, 1753-1806). This outstanding ukiyo-e master was significantly influenced by Torii Kiyonaga and the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo. As a result of long-term collaboration with the latter, many albums, books with illustrations and series of engravings were published.
Despite the fact that Utamaro took subjects from the lives of simple artisans and sought to depict nature (“The Book of Insects”), fame came to him as an artist of works dedicated to the geisha of the Yoshiwara quarter (“Yoshiwara Green Houses Yearbook”).
Utamaro has reached a high level in expression states of mind on paper. For the first time in Japanese woodcuts he began to use bust compositions.
It was Utamaro’s creativity that influenced French impressionists and contributed to European interest in Japanese prints.
(葛飾北斎, 1760-1849). Hokusai's real name is Tokitaro. Probably the most widely known ukiyo-e master around the world. Throughout his career he used over thirty pseudonyms. Historians often use pseudonyms to periodize his work.
At first, Hokusai worked as a carver, whose work was limited by the artist's intentions. This fact weighed heavily on Hokusai, and he began to look for himself as an independent artist.
In 1778, he became an apprentice at the Katsukawa Shunsho studio, which specialized in yakusha-e prints. Hokusai was both a talented and very diligent student who always showed respect to his teacher, and therefore enjoyed the special favor of Shunsho. Thus, the first independent work Hokusai were in the yakusha-e genre in the form of diptychs and triptychs, and the popularity of the student equaled the popularity of the teacher. At this time, the young master had already developed his talent so much that he felt cramped within one school, and after the death of his teacher, Hokusai left the studio and studied the directions of other schools: Kano, Sotatsu (otherwise Koetsu), Rimpa, Tosa.
During this period, the artist experienced significant financial difficulties. But at the same time, his formation as a master takes place, who refuses the usual image that society demanded and seeks his own own style.
In 1795, illustrations for the poetic anthology “Keka Edo Murasaki” saw the light of day. Then Hokusai painted surimono paintings, which immediately began to gain popularity, and many artists began to imitate them.
From this period, Tokitaro began to sign his works with the name Hokusai, although some of his works were published under the pseudonyms Tatsumasa, Tokitaro, Kako, Sorobek.
In 1800, the master began to call himself Gakejin Hokusai, which meant “Mad Hokusai of Painting.”
Famous series of illustrations include “36 views of Mount Fuji”, of which the most notable are “Victory Wind. Clear Day" or "Red Fuji" and "The Great Wave off Kanagawa", "100 Views of Mount Fuji", released in three albums, "Hokusai's Manga" (北斎漫画), which is called the "encyclopedia of the Japanese people". The artist put into “Manga” all his views on creativity and philosophy. "Manga" is the most important source for studying the life of Japan at that time, as it includes many cultural aspects. A total of twelve issues were published during the artist’s lifetime, and three more after his death:
* 1815 - II, III
* 1817 - VI, VII
* 1849 - XIII (after the death of the artist)
Hokusai's art influenced such European destinations, like Art Nouveau and French Impressionism.
(河鍋暁斎, 1831 -1889). Used the pseudonyms Seisei Kyosai, Shuransai, Baiga Dojin, and studied at the Kano school.
Unlike Hokusai, Kyosai was quite cheeky, which caused his rift with the artist Tsuboyama Tozan. After school he became an independent master, although he sometimes attended school for another five years. At that time he painted kyoga, the so-called “crazy paintings.”
Among the outstanding engraving works are the One Hundred Paintings of Kyosai. As an illustrator, Kyosai creates images for short stories and novels in collaboration with other artists.
At the end of the 19th century, Europeans often visited Japan. The artist was familiar with some of them, and several of his works are now in the British Museum.
(歌川広重, 1797-1858). He worked under the pseudonym Ando Hiroshige (安藤広重) and is known for his subtle rendering of natural motifs and natural phenomena. He painted his first painting, “Mount Fuji in the Snow,” which is now kept in the Suntory Museum in Tokyo at the age of ten. Subjects early works were based on real events happening on the streets. His famous cycles: “100 Views of Edo”, “36 Views of Mount Fuji”, “53 Tokaido Stations”, “69 Kimokaido Stations”, “100 known species Edo." Monet and the Russian artist Bilibin were greatly influenced by “The 53 Stations of the Tokaido Road,” painted after traveling along the East Coast Road, as well as “100 Views of Edo.” From the series in the kate-ga genre of 25 engravings, the most famous is the sheet “Sparrows over a snow-covered camellia.”
(歌川国貞, also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III (三代歌川豊国)). One of the most outstanding artists ukiyo-e.
paid special attention to kabuki actors and the theater itself - this is about 60% of all works. Also known are works in the bijinga genre and portraits of sumo wrestlers. It is known that he created from 20 to 25 thousand plots, which included 35-40 thousand sheets. He rarely turned to landscapes and warriors. Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川 国芳, 1798 - 1861). Born into the family of a silk dyer. Kuniyoshi began learning to draw at the age of ten while living with the Kuninao artist family. He then continued to study with Katsukawa Shun'ei, and at the age of 13 he entered the Tokuyoni workshop to study. In the first years, things are not going well for the young artist. But after receiving an order from publisher Kagaya Kichibei for five prints for the 108 Suikoden Heroes series, things started to take off. He creates the rest of the characters in the series and then proceeds to various other works, and after fifteen years he is on par with Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kunisada.
After the 1842 ban on images theater scenes, actors, geishas and courtesans, Kuniyoshi writes his “cat” series, makes engravings from an educational series for housewives and children, depicts national heroes in the series “Traditions, Morals and Decency”, and by the late 1840s - early 1850s, after the easing of prohibitions, the artist returned to the theme of kabuki.
(渓斎英泉, 1790-1848). Known for his works in the bijinga genre. His best works include portraits of the okubi-e ("big heads") type, which are considered examples of the artistry of the Bunsei era (1818-1830), when the ukiyo-e genre was in decline. The artist painted many lyrical and erotic surimono, as well as a cycle of landscapes “Sixty-nine Stations of Kisokaido”, which he was unable to complete and was completed by Hiroshige.
The novelty in the depiction of bijinga was its sensuality, which was not previously seen in other artists. From his works we can understand the fashion of that time. He also published biographies of the Forty-Seven Ronin and wrote several other books, including The History of Ukiyo-e Prints (Ukiyo-e ruiko), containing biographies of artists. And in Notes of a Nameless Elder, he described himself as a depraved drunkard and former owner of a brothel in Nedzu, which burned to the ground in the 1830s.
Suzuki Harunobu (鈴木春信, 1724-1770). The artist's real name is Hozumi Jirobei. He is the discoverer of ukiyo-e polychrome printing. He attended the Kano School and studied painting. Then, under the influence of Shigenaga Nishimura and Torii Kiyomitsu, woodblock printing became his hobby. Engravings in two or three colors had been made since the beginning of the 18th century, and Harunobu began painting in ten colors, using three boards and combining three colors - yellow, blue and red.
He excelled in depicting street scenes and paintings in the shunga genre. And from the 1760s, he was one of the first to portray Kabuki actors. His works influenced E. Manet and E. Degas.
(小原古邨, 1877 - 1945). His real name is Matao Ohara. Depicted scenes from the Russo-Japanese and Sino-Japanese wars. However, after the photograph appeared, his work began to sell poorly, and he began to earn a living by teaching at school fine arts in Tokyo. In 1926, Ernest Felloza, curator of Japanese art at the Boston Museum, persuaded Ohara to return to painting, and the artist began depicting birds and flowers, and his work sold well abroad. 
(伊藤若冲, 1716 - 1800). He stood out among other artists for his eccentricity and lifestyle, which consisted of friendships with many cultural and religious figures of that time. He depicted animals, flowers and birds in a very exotic form. He was very famous and accepted orders for painting screens and temple paintings.
(鳥居清信, 1664-1729). One of the most important representatives early period ukiyo-e. Despite the great influence of his teacher Hishikawa Monorobu, he became the founder of the yakusha-e genre in the depiction of posters and posters and invented his own style. The actors were depicted in special poses in the role brave heroes and were painted in 
noble orange, and the villains were drawn in blue colors. To depict passion, the artist invented a special type of mimizugaki drawing - these are winding lines with alternating thin and thick strokes and combined with a grotesque image of the muscles of the limbs.
Torii Kiyonobu is the founder of the Torii dynasty of artists. His students were Torii Kiyomasu, Torii Kiyoshige I, and Torii Kiyomitsu.
Who is your favorite ukiyo-e artist?
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