Torii Kiyonaga was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Torii school. Originally Sekiguchi Shinsuke, the son of an Edo bookseller, from Motozaimokuchō Itchōme in Edo, he took on Torii Kiyonaga as an art name. Although not biologically related to the Torii family, he became head of the group after the death of his adoptive father and teacher Torii Kiyomitsu.
Bathhouse Women
Eleventh month (Jūichi gatsu), from the series 'Twelve months of the southern quarter' (Minami jūni ko), c. 1783. Chester Beatty Library
Sixth month, from the series 'Twelve months of the southern quarter', c. 1784.
Ninth month, from the series 'Twelve months of the southern quarter', c. 1784. Chiba City Museum of Art
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica. The term ukiyo-e translates as 'picture[s] of the floating world'.
Tokugawa Ieyasu established his government in the early 17th century in Edo (modern Tokyo).Portrait of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Kanō school painting, Kanō Tan'yū, 17th century
The Hikone screen may be the oldest surviving ukiyo-e work, dating to c. 1624–1644.
Early woodblock print, Hishikawa Moronobu, late 1670s or early 1680s
Standing portrait of a courtesanInk and colour painting on silk, Kaigetsudō Ando, c. 1705–10
