Japanese school of the first half of the 19th century.

Japanese school of the first half of the XIX century.
"Fighters" and "Samurai".
Pair of ukiyo-e woodcut prints on paper.
Exhibits wear consistent with age and use.
Measurements: 18 x 26 cm (each); 22 x 31 cm (frames).

Pair of woodblock prints made by artists of the ukiyo-e school. A pair of fierce Japanese sumo wrestlers, which could allude to the legendary Matano Goro Kagehisa, who appears in the epic story of the Soga monogatari (Tale of the Soga brothers). He is a legendary figure who appears in many Edo-era Japanese prints, such as the "Musha-e" warriors. The other print shows a samurai couple.

Ukiyo-e ("floating world") images, or Japanese woodblock prints, are color works produced in Japan from the 17th to the 19th century, illustrating landscapes, themes from the theater or pleasure houses, genre scenes, folklore, etc., often starring famous actors and geisha. Although ukiyo-e enjoyed its greatest popularity in Japan during the second half of the 17th century, in Europe it was discovered at the end of the 19th century, when some artists, such as Van Gogh, noticed the paper, illustrated prints, that wrapped porcelain and other merchandise brought from Japan. Since then, these prints began to be collected, which fascinated the Western artist for their radically different concept, their essentiality and expressive force, and which represented a true revolution for European art, marking a before and after in its evolution.