Kunisada Utagawa (1786-1865): Set Of 12 Mangas Notebooks

Kunisada UTAGAWA (1786-1865): Set of 12 manga notebooks, period, Dim: 17.3 x 11.5 cm I am available to anyone interested to send any photos that will be requested. Utagawa Kunisada (歌 川 国 貞, Utagawa Kunisada ?, 1786 - January 12, 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III (三代 歌 川 豊 国?) Is one of the most popular ukiyo-e painters of the 19th century and also one of the most prolific and most successful financially, ahead of Kuniyoshi and Hiroshige. He notably made an illustration of Genji monogatari and representations of contemporary kabuki actors. He is an undisputed master of woodblock prints. Biography Utagawa Kunisada was born in Edo in 1786. His father, who died the following year, was an amateur poet of little reputation. After showing a strong predilection for art (he copied the drawings of kabuki actors), he was accepted around 1800 as an apprentice by one of the greatest masters of drawing on wooden boards, Toyokuni, receiving at that time the name of "gō". He began by making prints of actors, a specialty of the Utagawa school, quickly abandoned for bijin-ga. He also painted landscapes and warriors, but although his beginnings in this field were promising, he would never do much. He also produced a large number of shunga (erotic engravings), before the reforms of the Tenpō era took place in 1842. In 1844-1845, Kunisada Utagawa changed his artist name, taking the name of his master, Toyokuni, and thus becomes Toyokuni III (Toyokuni II being Toyoshige Utagawa, another pupil of Toyokuni, who became head of the school after Toyokuni's death in 1825). During this year of transition, Kunisada Utagawa signed many of his prints "Kunisada, soon Toyokuni II", a voluntary affront to Toyoshige whom he thinks he has usurped the legitimate position. He sometimes collaborated with Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi on series of prints made in the 1840s and 1850s, when Japan was in the midst of expansion and woodblock prints were in great demand. By this time, he was at the height of his career and dominated the print market for kabuki and genji actors, also painting large numbers of bijin-ga and sumo-e. It is estimated that he produced more than 20,000 works during his lifetime. He died after his two major contemporaries, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi, who died in 1858 and 1861 respectively. His last years were marked by a qualitative revival: his series were much more inspired and stood out from most of his earlier mass-produced works. He died in Edo after having trained several students such as Toyohara Kunichika and Utagawa Kunisada II.