Seven Otafukus, 1870s-1880s, Kawanabe Ky?sai, Japanese, 1831 - 1889, 13 7/16 ¡Ñ 32 1/2 in. (34.13 ¡Ñ 82.55 cm) (image)56 7/16 ¡Ñ 38 1/16 in. (143.35 ¡Ñ 96.68 cm) (mount, without roller), Ink and color on silk, Japan, 19th century, Kawanabe Ky?sai was one of the most versatile and talented artists in the late nineteenth century. Born in 1831 in Koga, Ky?sai first became a pupil of the ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1796-1861) at the age of six. After ten years with Kuniyoshi, he moved on to study the orthodox style of the Kan? school. In 1852, he left the Kan? school and spent the rest of his life as an independent artist. Living in the age of upheaval from the Tokugawa shogunate to the Meiji government, he worked beyond the boundaries of the established schools of painting. Ky?sai exhibited his genius in the wide range of subjects and style of painting as well as printmaking. With his technical refinement, Ky?sai particularly showed tremendous talent in satirical parodies of fantasic and weird subjects with wit and vitality.