Toyohara Kunichika - Memorial Portrait of the Actor Nakamura Kisaburo

Memorial Portrait of the Actor, Nakamura Kisaburo

Toyohara Kunichika's original Japanese woodcut, "Memorial Portrait of the Actor, Nakamura Kisaburo" is printed upon 19th Japanese mulberry paper and with full margins as published around 1860. It is signed 'Toyohara Kunichika hitsu' in the block to the lower left. This memorial portrait of the actor Nakamura Kisaburo represents a prime, original example of the woodcut art by the 19th century Japanese artist, Toyohara Kunichika.

Memorial Portrait of the Actor, Nakamura Kisaburo

View other original Japanese woodcuts by Toyohara Kunichika.

Toyohara Kunichika (1835 - 1900)
#	Image	Title & Artist	Medium	Date	Notes	-
01-		Actors Ichikawa Sadanji and Onoe Kikugoro in a Kabuki Play by Toyohara Kunichika	Original Japanese Woodcut (Triptych)	1890	Signed, 'Toyohara Kunichika hitsu', publisher by Komori Sojiro.	Sold
02.-		Actor, Onoe Kikugoro, Narrating in a Kabuki Play by Toyohara Kunichika	Original Japanese Woodcut	1870	Signed, Toyhara Kunichika Hitsu, publisher Tamura Tetsunosuke.	Sold
03.-		Memorial Portrait of the Actor, Nakamura Kisaburo by Toyohara Kunichika	Original Japanese Woodcut	c. 1860	Signed 'Toyohara Kunichika hitsu'.
04.-		Three Actors in a Kabuki Play by Toyohara Kunichika	Original Japanese Woodcut (Triptych)	c. 1880	Signed 'Toyohara Kunichika hitsu' and bearing the red circular seal of the Utagawa school.	Sold

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Title:	Memorial Portrait of the Actor, Nakamura Kisaburo
Artist:	Kunichika, Toyohara (Japan, 1835 - 1900)
Date:	c. 1860
Medium:	Original Japanese Woodcut
Note:	Toyohara Kunichika: Of all the leading masters of the Japanese woodcut during the Meiji era between (1868 & 1912), Toyohara Kunichika most steadfastly held onto the traditional concepts of classic, Golden Age art forms. While other artists displayed the stylistic effects of the opening up of Japan to foreign cultures, Kunichika stood as the last great heir of the classic Japanese woodcut, unaffected by new Western forms of art. Perhaps this was so because Kunichika's artistic training had been firmly rooted in the dominant Utagawa school of the early to mid nineteenth century. As early as 1800 Toyokuni had come to represent the father of this school. His methods were passed down to his most famous students, Kuniyoshi and Kunisada. In turn, Kunichika studied under Kunisada (from the tender age of thirteen) and inherited his master's strong gifts for actor portrayals, genre depictions and portraits of beautiful women.
	Kunichika was a brilliant pupil -- as well as a notorious drinker and womanizer. Before turning twenty he was designing his own woodcuts and sometimes competing with his former master. Kunisada, however, always held his former student in high regard and upon Kunisada's death in 1864, Kunichika was commissioned to design his memorial portrait. Woodcut memorial portraits of famous artists and actors were meant as a tribute and were published shortly after the individual's death.
	As the Meiji era advanced Kunichika altered his colors to suit the changing tastes, relying more upon the bright reds, greens and purples which characterize late nineteenth century Japanese printmaking. It is thus with his early pre-Meiji woodcuts, such as this original example of Memorial Portrait of the Actor, Nakamura Kisaburo, where Kunichika's talents are seen to their best advantage. In a sense these woodcuts represents the last great works of art from Japan's Golden Age. This Kunichika woodcut is signed 'Toyohara Kunichika hitsu' in the block to the lower left.
Reference:	* A. Newland & C. Uhlenbeck, Ukiyo-e to Shin hanga: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints, London, Bison Books, 1990, pp. 190 & 191.
Size:	13 1/2 X 9 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	Matted with 100% Archival Materials
Buy Now	Price: $495.00 US
Condition:	Printed upon 19th Japanese mulberry (rice) paper and with full margins as published around 1860. Signed 'Toyohara Kunichika hitsu' in the block to the lower left. Containing some creasing and rubbing within the image, else a finely printed impression and in good condition throughout. Memorial Portrait of the Actor, Nakamura Kisaburo represents a prime, original example of the woodcut art of Kunichika.
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