Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Utagawa Kuniyoshi made his name in 1820s Edo, today's Tokyo, with a series of woodblock prints of the 108 outlaw heroes of a Chinese saga, the Suikoden, shown as tattooed, muscular warriors in the thick of battle. The prints were a sensation, set off a fashion for elaborate tattoos, and made warrior pictures his signature.

He worked in the crowded commercial world of ukiyo-e, the floating-world prints sold cheaply to ordinary townspeople. When the government banned images of actors and courtesans as a curb on luxury, Kuniyoshi dodged the censors with sly substitutes, once drawing famous actors as goldfish, and packed hidden mockery of the rulers into monster and ghost scenes.

He also loved cats, keeping a crowd of them in his studio and slipping them into his prints, sometimes assembling a dozen live cats into the shape of a giant catfish or a written character.