| Method | Woodblock (nishiki-e) |
| Artist | Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) (1786-1865) |
| Published | [n.d. c. 1828] |
| Dimensions | Two Hanshibon sheets [each sheet ~222 x 155 mm] |
| Notes |
Series: Chōchidori: Haru no iro Soga no utsushie: Butterflies and Plovers: The colours of spring A print from Volume II of the series Chochidori: Haru no iro Soga no utsushie. This series has number of images that contain kabuki actor and the title is an allusion to the popular tale of the Soga brothers with the butterfly associated with Soga no Gorō and the plover with Soga no Jurō. This series is illustrative of the fact that Kabuki actors were seen as Ukiyo-e sex symbols whilst also alluding to the fact that they were also often sex workers catering to female and male clients. Margarita Winkel in the book Japanese Erotic Fantasies: Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period also posits the theory that it is possible that Kabuki actors depicted in shunga may have been recognisable to the audience but also suggests if it was the role itself that was important to the eroticism. In this print a man and woman have sex on the stairs. This print relates to the one preceding it in the series where a woman watches another couple as she peaks over the top of the steps below which various items- tables, mats, tea pots, and lantern bases are stored. Taken on its own the viewer is meant to focus on the moment and centre of pleasure of the sex act. This print is also representative of the idea throughout ukiyo-e shunga that sex takes place anywhere and at anytime. Shunga is the term used for the body of erotic imagery produced in Japan from 1600 to 1900. The term shunga means spring pictures, a euphemism for sex, and is one of several names for erotic material produced in Japan. Shunga took different formats: painted hand scrolls, painted books, printed books and albums, and sets of prints which were sometimes sold in wrappers. As prints they are one of the genres of ukiyo-e, or Floating World prints, which also include fukeiga (landscape prints), and bijin-ga (prints of beautiful women). Most of the major ukiyo-e artists produced shunga material at some point during their careers, including Utamaro (who produced more erotic books than non-erotic books), Hokusai, and Hiroshige. Produced at the same time as the introduction of full colour woodblock printing, shunga prints and books were made using the most lavish and complicated printing techniques, including gauffrage, metallic inks, mica, complicated printed patterns, and multicolour printing using a high number of different colours. Although prolific in its number and variety, shunga should be seen as more representative of the ideals of the ukiyo, with its emphasis on mutual pleasure, rather than as an accurate representation of Japanese attitudes and practices of sexuality. Shunga present an invitation to pleasure through the bliss of lovemaking and though largely heteronormative, they portray the full gamut of couplings, married or otherwise, often surrounded by lavish settings and objects of pleasure. Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) (1786-1865) was the most popular, prolific and financially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock print in 19th century Japan producing over 20,000 print designs as well as illustrated books. In his own time, his reputation far exceeded that of his contemporaries, Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi. The artist started his career as a pupil of Toyokuni I whose name he adopted in 1844 as Toyokuni III. Almost from the first day of his activity to until his death in 1865, Kunisada was a trend setter in the art of the Japanese woodblock print. Always at the vanguard of his time, and in tune with the tastes of the public, he continuously developed his style, which was sometimes radically changed, and did not adhere to stylistic constraints set by any of his contemporaries. He was not only a brilliant print maker but also an excellent business man who had great commercial success. Following the traditional pattern of the Utagawa School, Kunisada's main occupation was kabuki and actor prints, and about sixty percent all of his designs fall in this category. Notable students of his include Toyohara Kunichika, Utagawa Sadahide and Utagawa Kunisada II. From, the 1820s Kunisada produced approximately fifty erotic works. Many of his works were conceived and designed with author and poet Utei Enba II (1792-1862). Kunisada made several erotic parodies of popular novels including erotic versions of The Tales of Genji. Kunisada's shunga output is notable for the great attention to the settings of the shunga scenes including elaborate fabric patterns, porcelain, smoking sets, and the use of the most elaborate printing methods available at the time including embellishment with gold and silver pigments, mother of pearl, mica, lacquer printing, and gauffrage. Ex. Col.: Peter Darach Condition: Some light creasing to sheets and some soiling to lower right and left corners, worm hole in centre of image in the tables under the stairs stain in upper left margin and just into image. Reference: The Gerhard Pulverer Collection: Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Vol. 1, FSC-GR-780.20.1-3., Uhlenbeck, Christ and Margarita Winkel. Japanese Erotic Fantasies: Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period. Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2005, page 189, 71c. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £350.00 |
| Stock ID | 53159 |