Although of the samurai class, Koryusai gave up his rank to work as an Ukiyo-e artist. The signature 'Haruhiro' in his earliest works suggests a direct, perhaps student-teacher, relationship with the preeminent ukiyo-e master Suzuki Harunobu. Surely for several years Koryusai's style was much in the Harunobu mould. His later works, however, showed a new amplitude in figure and design that was permanently to influence the Ukiyo-e 'bijin-ga'. He is renowned as a supremely successful designer in the pillar-print format. |
