Torii Kiyomasu

• Died: c. 1720s
• Japanese: 鳥居清倍 (Torii Kiyomasu)

Torii Kiyomasu was an ukiyo-e artist of the Torii school, believed to have possibly been the brother of Torii Kiyonobu, founder/consolidator of the school.

Though Kiyomasu's depictions of kabuki actors and beautiful women strongly resemble those of Kiyonobu's in style, they are also said to be more graceful and delicate, in contrast to the bold, kabuki-informed vitality of Kiyonobu's work. He is also noted as one of the few major artists to take Sugimura Jihei as a model, rather than Jihei's contemporary and competitor, Hishikawa Moronobu.

While the Torii school specialized in producing billboard advertisements for the kabuki theatre, a relatively great number of Kiyomasu's large-scale prints have survived, compared to those by Kiyonobu, who it is argued may have devoted more time and attention to the billboards, now lost. Beginning in the 1710s in particular, Kiyomasu's production seems to have increased dramatically; ukiyo-e expert Richard Lane suggests that Kiyonobu may have passed on some considerable portion of the school's work to him.

References

• Lane, Richard. Images from the Floating World. New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1978. pp61-63.