Artist · 3 prints
Utagawa Toyokuni Prints
About Utagawa Toyokuni
Utagawa Toyokuni (1769–1825) was a Japanese woodblock print designer who worked in Edo, today's Tokyo. His father was a carver of dolls and puppets, including figures of kabuki actors. As a teenager he joined the studio of Utagawa Toyoharu, founder of the Utagawa school, and he later became its second head, turning it into the most powerful school of print design in nineteenth-century Japan. His many pupils included Kunisada and Kuniyoshi. He died in Edo in 1825.
Toyokuni is best known for yakusha-e, prints of kabuki actors in their famous roles, full of drama and bold pattern. His series Portraits of Actors on Stage dates from around 1794. He also designed prints of fashionable women, warriors and scenes from plays. His work is held in large numbers by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Utagawa Toyokuni prints: reproductions of ukiyo-e woodblock prints of kabuki actors by the Edo print designer Utagawa Toyokuni, made between 1805 and 1821. The collection includes Segawa Michinosuke Wearing a Padded Plaid Robe (1805), Sawamura Tanosuke as Yūsuke's Wife Osen (1810) and Segawa Kikunojō as Hashihime (1821).
This selection focuses on onnagata, the male kabuki actors who played women's roles. Each print shows a single actor in costume, with patterned robes, elaborate hair and strong outlines.
The upright single-figure prints suit hallways, studies and narrow walls, and they hang well as a set of three. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with low-glare acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
