Utagawa Kunisada

UTAGAWA KUNISADA (Japan, 1786-1865).
"Courtiers."
Woodcut print.
Measurements: 35.5 x 24 cm; 51 x 35.5 cm (passe-partout).

Utagawa Kunisada was a painter of the Utagawa school, disciple of Utagawa Toyokuni. He specialized in the genre of yakusha-e actors, although he also made bijin-ga.

The images of ukiyo-e ("floating world"), or Japanese woodblock prints, are color works produced in Japan since the 17th century, illustrating landscapes, themes of the theater or pleasure houses, genre scenes, folklore, etc., often starring famous actors and geisha. Although ukiyo-e enjoyed its greatest popularity in Japan during the second half of the 17th century, in Europe it was discovered at the end of the 19th century, when some artists, such as Van Gogh, noticed the paper, illustrated prints, that wrapped porcelain and other merchandise brought from Japan. Since then, these prints began to be collected, which fascinated the Western artist for their radically different concept, their essentiality and expressive force, and which represented a true revolution for European art, marking a before and after in its evolution.