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Torii Kiyonobu I was a Japanese artist who created prints and paintings in the ukiyo-e style. He was first exposed to the art world by his father, Torii Kiyomoto, an established kabuki actor and painter in Osaka. When he was twenty-four, Kiyonobu and his father moved to Edo (present-day Tokyo) and there he emerged as a major artist. He specialized in kabuki billboards, hanging scrolls, single-sheet prints, illustrated playbooks, beautiful women, and erotica. One of his greatest contributions to Japanese art is founding the Torii school of painting with his father, which trained many significant artists who contributed to the development of ukiyo-e. While the school did produce paintings and prints, the focus was on the production of billboards, posters, and other works related to kabuki theater.Label Type
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One of the specialties of Torii Kiyonobu I was portraits of beautiful women, which was a popular genre during the Edo period (1603-1867). This print depicting a woman wearing a kimono with Japanese calligraphy designs is a prime example of his talent. The composition also displays the expressive, lyrical lines that are present throughout his body work, but here especially they mirror the calligraphic design of the textile.