Bidspirit auction | Toyokuni III, Matsumoto Koshiro VI,

Toyokuni III, Matsumoto Koshiro VI, Kabuki Actor, Edo Period - Artist: Toyokuni III Utagawa (1786-1865) Title: Actor Matsumoto Koshiro VI as Nihonzaemon Series: Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road (Actor's Tokaido) Publisher: Sumiyoshiya Masagoro Date: 1852 Size: 23.1 x 35.7 cm Condition: Trimmed, light horizontal crease. Kunisada's pictures reflect the culture of Japan in the years leading up to the country's opening to the West. His first book illustrations were published in 1807, his first actor portrait the following year, alongside theatrical scenes and courtesans, yakusha-e was his preferred genre amidst all his popular and extensive output. As he painted very many of these, continuing the stout realism of his teacher, he acquired the sobriquet 'Yakusha-e no Kunisada' - Kunisada, the actor painter. From 1830 he continued the development of the Utagawa school, and from 1844 onwards signed his works Toyokuni III. Ref: JG0121YA01