Utagawa Kunisada – Woodblock Triptych – “All the Beauties in their Prime”
Elegant triptych showing Kabuki actors by Utagawa Kunisada, one of the great woodblock masters of the 19th Century. Extraordinary detail and patterns in the elaborate kimonos of the actors.
1786-1865
Also known as: Toyokuni III or Utagawa Toyokuni III
Kunisada Utagawa was one of the most popular, prolific and commercially successful designer of Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) in the Edo period. As a young man in Edo, he became an apprentice to Toyokuni, the great master of the Utagawa school, and followed in his footsteps as a producer of Kabuki and actor prints, celebrating known theatrical and demi-monde personalities of the period. A well-known trendsetter in his time, he was constantly in the vanguard of fashion, and his style evolved again and again over his lifetime.
