MIZUNO Toshikata Bijinga (MIZUNO Toshikata’s paintings of beautiful women)

These are paintings of beautiful women by MIZUNO Toshikata, a painter who actively worked during the Meiji period. There are expressions that distinguish from Edo period ukiyo-e, such as the composition of drawing small figures with large empty spaces, lines that express the strength and delicacy of the brush strokes, and the frequent use of shading of pale colors. His masterpiece, “Sanjurokkasen (Selections of Thirty-Six Beauties)”, created between 1891 and 1893, is a collection of works that focus on women's customs from various eras. A collection with a similar theme was made by Toshikata's master, the ukiyo-e painter TSUKIOKA Yoshitoshi, “Fuzoku sanjuni-so (Thirty-two Aspects of Customs and Manners)”. While Yoshitoshi painted women from the Kansei period (1789-1801) to the Meiji period (1868-1912), Toshikata's works are characterized by covering a wide range of time periods, including the Nara period (710-794), the oldest period, and depicting the customs and manners of the Kamakura and Muromachi periods(1185-1573).