CAT AND MOUSE (c.1870, by Kyosai Kawanabe)
A humorous print by showing a cat holding
aloft a rat by it’s tail with a sliver of moon just above them. Printed only in
sumi and light brown. This print is considered quite rare and was published by
Wawamuraya Seikichi in Tokyo.
Kyosai Kawanabe (1831 - 1889), an
extremely skillful artist who worked as a painter, print maker and illustrator,
was born as the son of a samurai, and as a child, joined the school of
Kuniyoshi Utagawa. During his career he was most noted for his prints with
humorous and caricature-like subjects, although I have seen some very sensitive
and skillful landscapes of his that I enjoyed very much. He is nicknamed the
"comic genius"; some of his humor perhaps stemming from his strong
liking for saké. He was also one of Japan’s first political caricaturists. His
ability to perfectly portray attitudes through the posture and movements of the
figures in his prints gained him a reputation for being one of the most
individualistic artists of the Meiji period.
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