Kawanabe KYOSAI (1831-1889)

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An original painting, full colour on silk, image size 41.25 x 16.2 in; 114.8 x 41 cms. A draughtsman of great dexterity with a wild, often bizarre, imagination. Loved sake, sometimes painting under its influence. At an early stage studied under Kuniyoshi, then Maemura Towa and later Kano Chinshin before becoming an independent painter at 27. Adept at highly finished paintings but also produced a large corpus of spontaneous paintings. This is one of Kyosai’s favourite themes: to juxtapose a beauty with an unlovely character; in this case a seated skeleton smoking.

Signed Seisai Kyosai ga with seal Kyosai in. In very good condition apart from some minor creases.

Status: Sold