Utagawa toyokuni biography sample
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Toyokuni I Utagawa
Toyokuni I Utagawa was one of the greatest masters of woodblock printing of the 18th century and is celebrated for his images of beautiful women (bijinga) and actors (yakusha-e). During his time as the head of the Utagawa school of printmaking, he influenced numerous artists of the next generation, impacting the direction in which woodblock print designs would evolve in the 19th century.
Born in Edo (today’s Tokyo), Toyokuni was apprenticed to the first head of the Utagawa art school, Utagawa Toyoharu (c. – ). In recognition of his artistic ability, Toyokuni later took the name Utagawa Toyokuni, following the common practice of using one syllable of his master's name.
Toyokuni’s early education as a printmaker is linked to Toyoharu, but his early beauty prints are influenced by Torii Kiyonaga () and Kitao Shigemasa (). Even though beauty prints made up the body of work of his early career, Toyokuni really came into the spotlight once he moved his focus to depicting stage actors. Posters advertising kabuki plays and portraits of favourite actors were in high demand with adoring fans to the point that the artist grew unable to keep up with the growing amount of orders. This led to an increased number of students at the Utagawa school and caused people t
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Toyokuni Utagawa
Utagawa Toyokuni, also often referred to as Toyokuni I, to distinguish him from the members of his school who took over his gō (art-name) after he died, was a great master of ukiyo-e, known in particular for his kabuki actor prints. He was the second head of the renowned Utagawa school of Japanese woodblock artists, and was the artist who really moved it to the position of great fame and power it occupied for the rest of the nineteenth century.
He was born in Edo, the son of Kurahashi Gorobei, a carver of dolls and puppets, including replicas of kabuki actors. At around 14, Toyokuni was apprenticed to the first head of the Utagawa house, Utagawa Toyoharu, whom his father knew well and who lived nearby. One of his fellow pupils under Toyoharu was Toyohiro, whose pupil was the great landscape artist Hiroshige. In recognition of his artistic ability, Toyokuni later took the name Utagawa Toyokuni, following the common practice of using one syllable of his master's name.
Toyokuni seems not to have been an "intuitive genius" determined to forge a new path; rather, he seems to have studied intently those who came before him, particularly Utamaro, Chōbunsai Eishi and Eishōsai Chōki. and through a great deal of hard work produced first a mastery, and then a synthesi