Kunichika Toyohara, Eighteen Best Kabuki Plays of Ichikawa Danjuro IX
Artist: Kunichika Toyohara (1835-1900)
Title: Narukami Shonin, Yosa, Arajishi Otokonosuke, Mori Kyuemon, Kojima Takanori, and Banzuiin Chobei
Series title: Old and New - Eighteen Best Kabuki Plays of Ichikawa Danjuro IX
Publisher: Yamamura Kinzaburo
Date: c.1880-1890s
Size: (L) 35.1 x 23.6 (C) 35.0 x 24.9 (R) 35.0 x 24.4 cm
絵師:豊原国周
題名:新古歌舞伎十八番 九世市川団十郎
年代:明治期
Original Japanese woodblock print.
Kunichika Toyohara
One of the last great masters of ukiyo-e, Kunichika was inspired by the plays, actors and customs of kabuki theatre. His colourful prints are records of a long lost, decadent underworld of Edo. As a young man, he studied with the ukiyo-e artist Chikanobu, from whom he received his artist name. He then apprenticed under Kunisada and began to produce actor prints in the Utagawa style, though he never used the Utagawa name. Unlike most Japanese woodblock artists of the period, he made use of strong reds and dark purples, often as background colours, rather than the softer colours that had previously been used. These new colours were made of aniline dyes imported in the Meiji period from Germany. When portraying people he only occasionally showed figures wearing Western dress, despite its growing popularity in Japan. He is also one of the best known artists to have designed a great number of prints featuring tattoos, a genre made popular earlier in Edo period by Kuniyoshi Utagawa.
Print Format | Triptych |
---|---|
Artist | Kunichika Toyohara |
Subject | Kabuki Theatre |
Dimensions | (L) 35.1 x 23.6 (C) 35.0 x 24.9 (R) 35.0 x 24.4 cm |
Condition Report | Slightly trimmed, minor pinholes, some paper residue on the edge. |
Folders | In Store, BD |
Location | Folder J |