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Untitled, from the series Graffiti on the Wall of the Treasure Storehouse

Untitled, from the series Graffiti on the Wall of the Treasure Storehouse

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Utagawa Kuniyoshi

This unusual triptych is a fine example of “comic pictures.” Kuniyoshi’s creative depiction of the actors incorporates childlike renderings that exaggerate facial features and mimic graffiti scrawled on storehouse walls in Edo. The Tenpo reforms of 1841–43 prohibited the inclusion of living kabuki actors’ names, and most actor prints instead relied on established stylizations of popular actors. Kuniyoshi followed the prohibition, but symbolic words and visual clues helped contemporary viewers identify the actors. Kuniyoshi’s approach passed the censors’ scrutiny, evident by the two censors’ seals at the top of the red title cartouche on each sheet. In addition to the actor portraits, the right sheet includes some actors’ family crests, as well as cries heard from theater audiences like “good job” and “I see.”
Artist
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
(Japanese, 1798 - 1861)
Title
Untitled, from the series Graffiti on the Wall of the Treasure Storehouse
Date
ca. 1847-1848
Medium
Color woodcut
Dimensions
13 15/16 x 9 3/4 in. Support
Credit
John H. Van Vleck Endowment Fund purchase
Accession No.
2003.20b
Classification
Prints
Geography
Japan

Related

  • Mueller, Laura. "Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School." Leiden, The Netherlands: Hotei Publishing, 2007. p. 139, no. 118
  • Nagoya City Museum, Chiba City Museum, Suntory Museum of Art, and Nihon Keizai Shimbun. "Utatgawa Kuniyoshi: Exhibition to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Utagawa Kuniyoshi's Birth." [exhibition cat], 1996-1997. pp. 183-184

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