Utagawa Toyokuni

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Memory image (shini-e) for Toyokuni I., Kunisada, 1825

Utagawa Toyokuni ( Japanese 歌 川 豐 國 , reformed : 歌 川 豊 国 ; * 1769 in Edo (today: Tokyo ); † February 25, 1825 ibid), also Toyokuni I , was a master of Japanese color, woodcut and painting in Style of ukiyo-e . As the second chief, he decisively shaped the painting style of the Utagawa school , whose members dominated the production of Japanese woodblock prints in the late Edo and the entire Meiji period .

Life

Toyokuni was born in 1769 in the Shiba district of Edo city as the son of the doll maker Kurohashi Gorōbei. His nicknames were Kumakichi and later Kumaemon. It is known that he has moved twice within the neighborhood and has settled in the Nihonbashi district of Edo from 1808. He had an only daughter, Okin, who, contrary to popular belief, was not married to the later head of the Utagawa School, Toyoshige (Toyokuni II from 1825), but married a certain Watanabe Ihei in 1826. A few months before his death, Toyokuni adopted Toyoshige, who was only seven years his junior, who signed some prints with "Toyokuni sui Toyoshige ga" (Eng. "Drawn by Toyoshige, Toyokuni's son" ) on some prints in early 1825 . In 1804 he had been sentenced to 50 days of house arrest in handcuffs for violating censorship regulations, naming real names and depicting real family crests on some of his prints. As can be seen in a memory picture drawn by Kunisada, he died according to Japanese calculations at the age of 57 on the 7th day of the 1st month of the year Bunsei 8 (according to the western calendar on February 25, 1825).

plant

Komachi asks for rain, from the series "Modern Girls as the Seven Komachi", Toyokuni I., around 1810

Toyokuni learned painting and drawing from Utagawa Toyoharu , the founder of the Utagawa School. His first known work are the illustrations for a book published in 1786, "Ahōha nete mate" (Eng. "The sleeping and waiting fool" ). His first actor print appeared in 1789, after which he designed some perspective landscape prints in the style of his teacher Toyoharu. The first prints with figurative representations of beautiful women ( bijin-ga ) were based on Torii Kiyonaga , while women's heads are strongly reminiscent of Kitagawa Utamaro . The lines of these prints from the 1790s are still strict and brittle; Toyokuni only developed his own style in this area a few years later and in his later prints the women he depicts appear lively and lifelike.

The actor Segawa Kikunojō III. as a shirabyōshi dancer Hisakata, series "Lifelike pictures of actors on the stage", Toyokuni I., 1794

Above all, Toyokuni drew the drafts for actor portraits and scenes from kabuki pieces. Its fame in this field established the series "Yakusha butai no sugata-e" (Eng. "Lifelike pictures of actors on the stage" ) published by Izumiya Ichibei in the years 1794–96 . It includes more than 50 prints, most of which are single-sheet prints, but diptychs and triptychs are also included. In contrast to the Katsukawa school, Toyokuni used the wider ōban format for this series , which allowed more design options. At the beginning of the 19th century he himself drew some actor pictures in the hosoban format, but from 1810 at the latest ōban was the only format used. The new, lively sense of realism in his pictures met the public taste of the time.

Just like the head and double half-figure portraits drawn by Toyokuni, the prints in the series emphasized the individual characteristics of the actors and made them appear realistic. This "closeness to life" characterized his prints and those of his successors, so that the artists of the Katsukawa School, who had previously dominated the market for actor and kabuki prints, finally no longer received any orders from publishers around 1800.

Toyokuni I., fan sheet of the actor Ichikawa Ebijūrō I., 1822

Toyokuni recorded his drawing method in a manual published in 1817 with the title “Yakusha nigao haya geiko” (German: “Brief instructions [for drawing] realistic actors” ). His method and success laid the foundation for the later monopoly of the Utagawa school in the representation of actors and kabuki scenes in the last decades of the Edo period.

In addition to some images of warriors ( musha-e ), Toyokuni also drew drafts for the coverings of uchiwa , mostly with bijin-ga or actor portraits. Slightly more than 30 hanging scrolls that he painted, mostly pictures of beautiful women, have survived. His complete oeuvre includes around 3000 prints and he illustrated over 400 book titles. Almost all of his works are only signed with "Toyokuni ga" ( Eng . "Drawn by Toyokuni" ) or "Toyokuni hitsu" (Eng. "Painted by Toyokuni" ), only occasionally he used the nickname Ichiyōsai.

Toyokuni was active as a designer of woodblock prints until shortly before his death; the last prints signed with his name were published in 1825. Some prints that were published posthumously are signed with the addition “ko” (Eng. “The deceased” ).

Among his numerous students, the best known are Kunimasa , Kuniyasu , Kuniyoshi and Kunisada .

literature

  • Timothy Clark: Ukioy-e Paintings in the British Museum . London, 1992, ISBN 0-7141-1460-X (English).
  • Andreas Marks: Japanese Woodblock Prints. Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900 . North-Clarendon, 2010, ISBN 978-4-8053-1055-7 (English).
  • Julia Meech, Jane Oliver: Designed for Pleasure - The World of Edo Japan in Prints and Paintings, 1680-1860 . Seattle, 2008, ISBN 978-0-295-98786-6 (English).
  • Julia Nelson Davis: Utamaro and the Spectacle of Beauty . London, 2007, ISBN 978-1-861-89359-8 (English).
  • Sadao Kikuchi (translation: Roy Andrew Miller): Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) . Charles E. Tuttle, Rutland, 1959 (English).
  • Friedrich Succo: Utagawa Toyokuni and his time . 2 vol., Piper, Munich, 1913–1914.
  • Friedrich Succo: Utagawa Toyokuni and his time . Second, shortened edition, Piper, Munich 1924.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marks, p. 96
  2. ↑ a b Clark, p. 134
  3. ^ Marks, p. 118
  4. ↑ Nelson Davis, pp. 222 ff
  5. ↑ Marks, p. 96 and Meech / Oliver, p. 129 and p. 132
  6. ↑ The Waseda University database contains ten prints ascribed to Toyokuni I, which are dated to the year Bunsei 8

Web links

Commons : Utagawa Toyokuni  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Utagawa is the family name, Toyokuni the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Utagawa, Toyokuni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 歌 川 豐 國 (Japanese); 歌 川 豊 国 (Japanese, Reformed)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Master of Japanese Woodblock Prints (Ukiyo-e)
DATE OF BIRTH 1769
PLACE OF BIRTH Edo (today: Tokyo)
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 1825
Place of death Edo (today: Tokyo )