UTAGAWA Yoshiiku / 歌川芳幾

Ukiyo-e printmaker, illustrator. Born in Edo, son of the proprietor of a teahouse in the Yoshiwara. Apprenticed to the owner of a pawnshop; soon left to become a pupil of Utagawa Kuniyoshi. After the Meiji Restoration became a popular and well-known newspaper illustrator, working in 1874 for the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun as an illustrator and, in 1875, for the Tokyo Eiri Shimbun as a cartoonist. His subjects included actors and bijin and, particularly, ghostly scenes, done in the exaggerated manner and harsh colors of the mid-19th century. Also illustrated numerous books.

Roberts, Laurance, P. "A Dictionary of Japanese Artists", John Weatherhill Inc., New York, 1980, p. 193