The Samurai (Shi) from the series Beauties Illustrating the Four Social Classes (Adesugata shi no ko sho)
Torii Kiyonaga
c. 1779
Medium
Color woodblock print; koban
Dimensions
20.8 × 15.3 cm (8 1/4 × 6 1/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
21232
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonaga · 1752–1815
Torii Kiyonaga, born Sekiguchi Shinsuke in 1752 in Uraga, Sagami Province, was the son of an Edo bookseller who owned tenements near a bustling fish market. At age 14 in 1765, he began his apprenticeship under Torii Kiyomitsu, the third-generation head of the prestigious Torii school of ukiyo-e, renowned for kabuki theater illustrations and signage. Adopted into the Torii family, Kiyonaga succeede...