Open daily. Always free.
Memorial Portrait of the Artist Utagawa Kunisada

Memorial Portrait of the Artist Utagawa Kunisada

On View

Not currently on view

Toyohara Kunichika

Utagawa Kunisada achieved great fame in his lifetime and one of his most important students, Kunichika, designed a memorial portrait, called a shini-e, in his honor. Previously, this type of print had been mainly reserved for kabuki stars. Kunichika takes great care to document the artist’s prominence and clearly establish his own relationship with the deceased. The diptych composition includes a detailed obituary that states he was a pupil of the famous Utagawa Toyokuni and includes the dates when he used his teacher’s name of Toyokuni II (known today as Toyokuni III). Kunisada is shown seated behind a desk with all the accoutrements of a great scholar. Above him are poems written by his most prominent pupils, Kunisada II, Kunihisa II, and Kunichika. Kunisada’s death poem on the far left is signed “At the age of seventy-nine, the old man Toyokuni”: [transliteration: Ikko ni / Mida e makaseshi / ki no yasusa / tada nanigoto mo / Namu Amida Butsu! (Translation: I have entrusted / everything to Mida, / my soul is at ease / no matter what happens-- / Homage to Amida Buddha!)]
Artist
Toyohara Kunichika
(Japanese, 1835 - 1900)
Title
Memorial Portrait of the Artist Utagawa Kunisada
Date
12/1864
Medium
Color woodcut
Dimensions
15 1/16 x 19 15/16 in. Overall
Credit
Bequest of John H. Van Vleck
Accession No.
1980.2604a-b
Classification
Prints
Geography
Japan

Related

1920, purchased from Ito (Chicago, IL) by Edward Burr Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 1943, passed through inheritance to Edward’s son, John H. Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 9 January 1980, bequeathed by John H. Van Vleck to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Mueller, Laura. "Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School." Leiden, The Netherlands: Hotei Publishing, 2007. p. 203, no. 193
  • Roberts, Laurance P. "A Dictionary of Japanese Artists: Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints, Lacquer." 1st edition. Tokyo; New York: Weatherhill, 1976. p. 95
  • Herwig, Henk, and Joshua S Mostow. "The Hundred Poets Compared: a Print Series by Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and Kunisada." Leiden, The Netherlands: Hotei, 2007. no. 14
  • Izzard, Sebastian. "Kunisada's World." Japan Society Gallery, 1993 p. 100, no. 100

  • In the Studio: Chazen Museum of Art, 6/1/2019–8/11/2019
  • Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School: Chazen Museum of Art, 11/3/2007–1/6/2008
  • Kunisada's Japan: Japan Society Gallery, 9/30/1993–11/14/1993

The Chazen Museum of Art welcomes comments or inquiries about works in our collection. Please allow two–three weeks for a response. Chazen staff is not able to provide valuations or authentications and such inquiries cannot be answered.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.