Iwasa Matabei

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Iwasa Matabei (岩佐 又兵衛 1578 - 1650) was a Japanese artist who specialized in genre scenes of historical events and illustrations of classical Chinese and Japanese literature, as well as portraits. He is son of Araki Murashige, a famous daimyo of sengoku period. His work was noted for its distinctive figure type with large heads and delicately drawn features. Although he followed Tosa school traditions, his work became the major influence on the developing Ukiyo-e ukiyo-e school of painting, which he is reputed to have founded.