Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

Original Japanese woodblock print

19th century

Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper Edo period 1861 (Man'en 2/Bunkyû 1), 2nd month signed: Toyokuni...

Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper Edo period 1859 35 x 23.5cm each sheet These are original Nish...

Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper Edo period 1856 (Ansei 3), 11th month Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô VI...

Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833-1904) Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper Edo period 1864 (Bunkyû 4/Genji 1), 7th month 35 x 23.5cm An origina...

Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper Edo period 35 x 23.5cm An original Nishiki-e print, realized ...

Utagawa Kunisada II (1823 – 1880) Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper Edo period 35 x 23.5cm each sheet These are original Nishiki-e prints, realized in the 19th Cen...

Famous scene of the feminine Yoshitsune as he meets Benkei on Gojo Bridge in Kyoto. We see a bronze-colored moon rising as Benkei seems to have been thwarted by Yoshitsune throwing h...

A beauty turns to admire the Kirifuri Waterfall in Nikko Province. She holds the handle of an umbrella and wears fashionable clothing that is beautifully printed. This series pairs f...

Shichirigahama, Sagami Province. A beauty in the foreground waves to her young companions, who run towards her on the beach. The beauty at left wears a western-style golden ring. We ...

"Sun, Moon and Stars". Three beauties enjoy a full moon on the veranda of a teahouse or restuarant. The woman on the left kneels and adjusts her lavishly printed kimono. The beauty in the center has her hair down, and behind her is a screen against which shadows are beautifully silhouetted, which adds an air of mystery. The seated woman on the right is perhaps a geisha, as we see a shamisen lying next to her. Before her is a tray with an assortment of foods. One may surmise that the beauties are being compared to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On the left we glimpse a full moon shining over the peaceful bay, and boats at harbor. Original first edition Japanese color woodblock print triptych...

Original 19th century Japanese woodblock print. Ôho (Wang Bao in Chinese) flees left, his Buddhist beads flying in the air as lightning strikes an ancie...

Woodcut on cream laid paper, 7 1/4 x 2 1/2 inches (182 x 63 mm), narrow margins. Laid down to non-archival board with scattered soiling and some adhesive staining. Okumura Masanobu (Japanese 1686 – 13 March 1764) was a Japanese print designer, book publisher, and painter. He also illustrated novelettes and in his early years wrote some fiction. At first his work adhered to the Torii school, but later drifted beyond that. He is a figure in the formative era of ukiyo-e doing early works on actors and bijin-ga ("pictures of beautiful women"). While Masanobu's early life is largely undocumented, he is believed to have been born about 1686, possibly in Edo (modern Tokyo). Edo was a small fishing village when Tokugawa Ieyasu chose it as his administrative capital of the Tokugawa shogunate, and by the early 17th century the city had prospered and its population had grown to half a million. Masanobu appears to have been self-taught painter (though he did study poetry under Tachiba Fukaku); he is not known to have belonged to any artistic school. His early work shows the influence of the Torii school of ukiyo-e painting...