Problem cat in 1850 ukiyo-e
#art #ukiyo-e #pigment #chemistry #chemie #metallurgy #metallurgie
@design_RG The black-and-white cat in this 1850 ukiyo-e looks interesting -- a real trouble-maker.
UTAGAWA SCHOOL. Cats were a frequent subject for many Edo period artists, including those known collectively as the Utagawa school. -- see Google image search for "utagawa kunisada cat" https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&sxsrf=ACYBGNQbwBxtT_OyGr9ucjKlOPAkZJKxUw:1575944326696&q=utagawa+kunisada+cat&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj51ZyOgqrmAhWtTt8KHbnwDhIQ4216BAgKEDs&biw=1920&bih=920
Three popular artists were known by the same name, which makes it a bit confusing for us; but think about it -- this "branding" strategy would have been a good marketing tactic in the competitive art market in Edo in the early 19th century:
• Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1865) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunisada
• Utagawa Kunisada II (1823 - 1880) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utagawa_Kunisada_II
• Utagawa Kunisada III (1848-1920) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utagawa_Kunisada_III
According to the Wikipedia Commons page where I found our cat, the artist for this speicific print was Utagawa Kunisada -- but which one?
ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY. If you're interested, I found our bad-tempered cat by accident.
I was searching for poetry I might want to give as a Christmas present. And my the gift-giving research plan included trying to find an image of the poet to go along with the poem.
So, yesterday I was looking for Bunya no Yasuhide. -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun%27ya_no_Yasuhide
And if you look closely at our image, you'll see that the woman with a curious cat has her own ukiyo-e print on the wall in the background -- and it's a portrait of the poet I was looking for ...
ANALYSIS. I guess we could say that Google's search engine worked well this time?
QUESTION: What is the STEM-focused rationale which explains the many toots about cats in our QOTO venue?
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?
Problem cat in 1850 ukiyo-e
@chikara Thank you for the nice post -- and the lovely image of the cat -- which I have saved to my collection of Cats and Backgounds. Love the mischief on his eyes, and the image is high resolution, can be cropped to a neat 1500 x 500 pixels version for a mastodon profile background image.
The high quality in the image also presents the fine detail in the illustration well. Amazing the beauty and quality of those, they were wood prints mostly, if I am not mistaken.
Why so many cats appear in our posts here? Well, I am a fan, along with many other masto denizens, starting with Gargron, the mastodon lead developer.
I find them amazing in many ways. Beautiful, expressive, wild in their hearts.
I aspire to relax so completely as they frequently do - in assorted poses and places.
How does it relate to STEM? (some of us have a theory, very hush hush, that Cats are really in control, and run the Internet. Funded by Porn sites to pay the bills) 
