Utagawa Kunimasa I

Japanese, 1773 - 1810

BiographyKunimasa was a leading ukiyo-e painter and print artist. A native of Aizu, he was first apprenticed to a dyer. He became the favorite pupil of Toyokuni. His earliest known prints date to 1795 in the wake of the explosive genius Sharaku. An eclectic artist, this master of actor portraits attempted to combine the intensity and exaggeration of Sharaku with the more purely decorative grace of his master, Toyokuni. Even in his bijin studies, the influence of Sharaku can be felt.

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Utagawa Kunimasa (1773-1810) was a pupil of Toyokuni I. He designed a few actor-prints in his master's best manner. His prints are extremely rare and are prized especially by French connoisseurs who regard Kunimasa as a sort of lesser Sharaku. He died young and thus escaped the avalanche of degradation which descended on ukiyo-e in the early years of the 1800s.

Kunimasa was Toyokuni's first student, and many regard him as his best. He attempted to combine the biting intensity of Sharaku with the more decorative aspects of his master Toyokuni. Many critics have attempted to prove that Sharaku and Kunimasa were one and the same person, but there is no proof for such a theory either in his art or recorded biography.

Research by: Howard A. Link.

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