Kunichika Toyohara, Actor Nakamura Shikan IV as Danshichi Kurobei, Tattoo Design

£1800
SKU
JG0621YA22
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Artist: Kunichika Toyohara (1835-1900)
Title: Actor Nakamura Shikan IV as Danshichi Kurobei
Series title: Collection of Star Actors seen as Flowers
Publisher: Masudaya Ginjiro
Date: 1872
Size: 35.5 x 24.1 cm

Original Japanese woodblock print.

kunichika toyohara,  Actor Nakamura Shikan IV as Danshichi Kurobei, tattoo design, irezumi
kunichika toyohara,  Actor Nakamura Shikan IV as Danshichi Kurobei, tattoo design, irezumi kunichika toyohara,  Actor Nakamura Shikan IV as Danshichi Kurobei, tattoo design, irezumi

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.

More Information
Print FormatOban (Vertical)
ArtistKunichika Toyohara
SubjectKabuki Theatre, Tattoo Design
Dimensions35.5 x 24.1 cm
Condition ReportTrimmed.
FoldersIn Store, CA
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