Utagawa Toyokuni III aka Utagawa Kunisada [1786-1864] [JP]

42 x 54cm

The work has been externally cleaned, otherwise it is untouched & remains within its original frame - it is in good condition for its age.

Utagawa Toyokuni III aka Utagawa Kunisada [1786-1864] [JP], born Sumida Shogoro IX, Kunisada remains one of the giants of the Japanese woodblock print scene & the most prolific. Unfairly judged as being derivative during the twentieth century, where the vogue was for the sun bleached prints of the eighteenth century classical artists, his work is now highly valued in the sale-room and by academics.
The son of a ferry man & amateur poet, he was apprenticed to the ukiyo-e artist Toyokuni I and produced his first known print around 1807. He changed his name in 1800 to Kunisada.  As was tradition and in honour of his master Toyokuni, he later adopted the name Toyokuni in 1844 following the death of his teacher.
By 1815 Kunisada was established and a prolific woodblock print artist. The bulk of his output remains connected to the theatre with very many kabuki prints from the early part of his career in the distinctive Utagawa style of Toyokuni - sparse scenes of actors on stage, their features long and angular with prominent jaws and noses. Later in his career, from the mid 1840’s to their peak in 1852, Kunisada produced vast numbers of actor prints in series and single oban sheets as well as diptych and triptych formats. Some of these series such as his Tokaido Road portraits of 1852 are hugely influential and original in their richness and their allusive subject matter.
For academics, Kunisada is best known for his pictures of women (bijinga-e). His series depicting women at work or leisure, often drawn from the red light district of Edo (Tokyo) are some of the finest and most penetrating of any of the genre. 
Kunisada was wealthy and successful for the bulk of his career, he employed many students and ran a well organised and productive workshop in Edo. During his lifetime he was also illustrating novels, books and poems and many expensively produced surimono. After 1847 his output increased and it is towards the end of his life that Kunisada created some of the best prints of his career. By the late 1850’s, Edo was famous for the quality of its woodblock prints and his artisan craftsmenship reached unprecedented levels of sophistication. Deluxe editions of prints on heavier paper with complex designs and many colours were popular and Kunisada took full advantage of his own popularity and of collaborations with other artists especially Kuniyoshi and Hiroshige. Utagawa Kunisada was the last of his generation of woodblock artists; crowds gathered to buy new releases of his prints. He died in 1865, one of the most popular and successful print artists of all time.

In valuing his work, the earliest examples are highly collectible & the deluxe impressions of his late career. He was stylistically innovative and quick to exploit new techniques and subject matter although he hardly ever tackled landscapes or warrior prints. His work is recognisable by his distinctive signature within an extended Toshidama cartouche which appears on prints from mid career onwards. Kunisada is well represented in museum collections around the world.