Untitled

Mizuno Toshikata

ca. 1906 · Frontispiece; woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Toshikata learned woodblock printing from Yoshitoshi, then studied Maruyama-Shijo-style painting under Watanabe Shōtei. Toshikata's sentimental style of beauty was followed by one of his students, Kaburagi Kiyokata. During the Meiji period the journal Bungei Kurabu (The Literary Club) emerged to revitalize the tradition of color woodblock prints as frontispiece illustrations (kuchi-e) for works of modern fiction. This print illustrates the popular romantic novel Surgery by Izumi Kyōka (1873–1939). A beautiful sick heroine is daydreaming that she and a handsome doctor are a couple. According to the novel, she eventually killed herself during her surgery conducted by the doctor.

Artist

Mizuno Toshikata

Date

ca. 1906

Medium

Frontispiece; woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1959