Minneapolis Institute of Art

Portrait of a Western Man

Nakayama Toshitsugu

Date

late 19th century

Medium

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

In this portrait of an unidentified Western man, Nakayama Toshitsugu employs traditional Japanese media—ink and light mineral pigments on a hanging silk scroll—with Western painting techniques that create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface. Toshitsugu studied under Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797¬–1861) and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892), two artists widely recognized as great geniuses of Japanese ukiyo-e style painting and prints. Ukiyo-e means “pictures of the floating world, ” and the subject matter included leisure activities and idealized, beautiful people. Toshitsugu created works in a variety of media, not only paintings in the ukiyo-e style but also Western-style watercolors, oil paintings, and paintings and drawings based on photographs. Some of his works are known to have been produced specifically for visiting foreigners. Asia

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