Kobayashi Kiyochika (小林清親) (artist 1847 – 1915)
Katsunosuke (胜之助 - childhood name)Hōensha Kiyochika (方円舎清親)
Shinsei (gō: 真生 - used from 1884 until his death))
Shinseirō (gō: 真生楼 - used from April to September, 1884)
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Biography:
Japanese ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Meiji period. Born in 1847 and died on November 28, 1915.
Kiyochika is best known for his prints of scenes around Tokyo which reflect the transformations of modernity. He has been described as "the last important ukiyo-e master and the first noteworthy print artist of modern Japan... [or, perhaps] an anachronistic survival from an earlier age, a minor hero whose best efforts to adapt ukiyo-e to the new world of Meiji Japan were not quite enough".
The son of a government official, Kiyochika was heavily influenced by Western art, which he studied under Charles Wirgman. He also based a lot of his work on Western etchings, lithographs, and photographs which became widely available in Japan in the Meiji period. Kiyochika also studied Japanese art under the great artists Kawanabe Kyōsai and Shibata Zeshin.
His woodblock prints stand apart from those of the earlier Edo period, incorporating not only Western styles but also Western subjects, as he depicted the introduction of such things as horse-drawn carriages, clock towers, and railroads to Tokyo. These show considerable influence from the landscapes of Hokusai and the work of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, but the Western influence is also unquestionable; these are much darker images on the whole, and share many features with Western lithographs and etchings of the time.
These were produced primarily from 1876 to 1881; Kiyochika would continue to publish ukiyo-e prints for the rest of his life, but also worked extensively in illustrations and sketches for newspapers, magazines, and books. He also produced a number of prints depicting scenes from the Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War.
Source: Wikipedia
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"Influenced by imported lithographs and etchings, turned to woodblock printing. Had a considerable success, particularly between 1876 and 1881, but after 1881 the style in which he worked lost its popularity. Also a book, magazine, and newspaper illustrator; reported and depicted the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. In his prints, produced views of contemporary Tōkyō as it changed under the impact of Western influences as well as landscapes and kachōga in a style that combined the Japanese and the Western manners; ukiyo-e in subject matter and color; Wester in perspective source of light and shading. Although he was unable to revitalize the ukiyo-e style, he is considered the last of the important ukiyo-e printmakers."
Quoted from: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists... by Laurance P. Roberts, the Japan Society/Weatherhill, 1976, p. 85.