Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

1786-1865

Edo Flowers Traveling as far as the Islands [Enoshima]
(Shima kakete [moude] hana no Edo tabi)

each sheet signed Kunisada aratame Toyokuni ga (picture by Kunisada changing his name to Toyokuni II), with nanushi censor seal Tanaka (Tanaka Hejiro), and publisher's seal Sa (unidentified), 1844

oban tate-e triptych 13 3/4 by 25 5/8 in., 35 by 65 cm

In his article exploring the relationship between Kunisada and his Utagawa school colleague, Hiroshige (1797-1858), Marks points out that the landscape in the background of this triptych is an elongated adaption of the circa 1833-34 print depicting the Kawasaki station by Hiroshige from his popular series, Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido [Hoeido Tokaido]. Kunisada's version, separated from the beauties in the foreground by a band of stylized clouds, portrays a distant vew of Hiroshige's composition with its distinctive ferry boat approaching the shore lined with a stand of darkened and Mount Fuji seen to the far right.

References:
Andreas Marks, When Two Western Masters Get Together: The Artistic Relationship Between Hiroshige and Kunisada, in Andon 84, November 2008, p. 37-38
Lyons Collection, wooodblockprints.org, object no. 633

(inv. no. 10-5749)

price: $950