Utagawa Toyokuni I

1769–1825 · Ukiyo-e · 13 works

Utagawa Toyokuni I helped make the Utagawa school a central force in Japanese printmaking. His successful Portraits of Actors on Stage series began in 1794, bringing recognizable performers together with flowing outlines and lively color. He also depicted women, social gatherings, and household entertainments. The Card Game opens onto a wealthy Edo home where young men play a poetry-based game of recognition. Such scenes invite a different pace of looking from the actor portraits: follow the exchange between figures, then notice how clothing, furnishings, and surrounding space connect them.

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13 works · 1790–1793

In The Card Game, trace the players’ gestures toward the cards. How does the arrangement make their shared activity legible?

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c. 1790 · 3 works

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Around 1790 Edo’s print designers celebrated courtesans and kabuki actors as stars. Chōbunsai Eishi, a samurai who left his post as an official painter, drew courtesans with their attendants. Tōshūsai Sharaku, active for about ten months, and Utagawa Toyokuni I portrayed actors. The courtesans of the Yoshiwara were exploited in a system of forced and strictly controlled prostitution.

In the museum: Ukiyo-e room · 1 work