Untitled

Kobayashi Kiyochika

September 1904 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

The propaganda print shown here was created at the height of the Russo-Japanese War, fought between the two expansionist imperial powers in 1904–5. Kobayashi Kiyochika, a major designer of woodblock prints, documented Japan’s rapid military and economic modernization and numerous wars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Inexpensive woodblock prints served as a vehicle for propaganda throughout this period.

Artist

Kobayashi Kiyochika

Date

September 1904

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1959