ABOUT THIS COLLECTION  
These woodblock prints by Kobayashi Kiyochika are considered the best of their genre: Japanese satirical illustrations dealing with the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905). Each print in the series, titled “Long Live Japan: One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs,” is illustrated with a humorous scene related to the war by the artist along with accompanying comments, filled with wordplay and irony, by the journalist Nishimori Takeki. Kiyochika produced these cartoons for Marumaru Chinbun, a satirical newspaper.  His caricatures of politicians and military officials were so spot-on that no identification was needed. In fact, they may be the first examples of using facial likeness to lampoon a public figure in the Japanese press. Many of his drawings employed toys and games to send up the childish ineptness of the Russian forces.The public relished the triumphs of the Japanese depicted in this work, which they were likely to see in more affordable prints than in the newspaper. 
 
COLLECTION DETAILS
Series title: Cartoons of the Russo-Japanese War
Series size: 12 artworks
Edition: Limited edition of 1000
Proof of Ownership: Certification on the Ethereum blockchain under the ERC1155 protocol. Each artwork is delivered privately and directly to collectors as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that guarrante proof of ownership.
Format: Pieces consist of PNG files sized 2160x3840 pixels - 150 dpi.
Medium: Woodcut Printing
Artwork materials:  Woodcut, color
Contract Address: 0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e
ID: 2749212597480566...
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kiyochika was largely self-taught, growing up in a family that lived on the edge of poverty in Shizuoka, a city to the south of Japan. In 1874 he went to Edo (Tokyo) and suddenly emerged as a woodblock print artist of note. Between 1876 and 1881, he produced a series of woodblock prints titled “Famous Places of Tokyo,” for which he is best known. They convey a sense of change and loss, unlike contemporaries who celebrated the Westernization coming to Japan. By then he had read about the French Impressionists and seen photographs of their work in newspapers. He was also influenced by Charles Wirgman, an English cartoonist and correspondent in Yokohama. Kiyochika utilized Western-style perspective and realism, notably in the interplay of light and shadows, especially in his nightscapes, which beautifully capture the newly gas-lit Tokyo. In the 1880s and 90s, the versatile Kiyochika joined in the wartime nationalist fervor, and began to do satirical cartoons. Kiyochika's use of Western influences and reinterpretation of ukiyo-e helped pave the way for future print artists, particularly those associated with the shin-hanga (“'new print”) movement.
 
COLLECTION CREDITS
Historical curatorship: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
Artwork: Kobayashi Kiyochika
Year of original publication: 1904 - 1905
Post-production: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
Digital art supervisor: Marie-Lou Desmeules
Editorial: Braden Phillips
Historical research: Evangelos Rosios, Braden Phillips
Executive production: Victor Zabrockis
 
RIGHTS OVERVIEW
Source of artwork: Library of Congress
Underlying work rights: PD Worldwide
Digital copyrights: No Additional Rights