Utagawa toyokuni biography of nancy

Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825)

Utagawa Toyokuni (also often referred to as "Toyokuni I", to distinguish him from his pupils who took over his go after he died) was a great master of the woodblock print, known in particular for his actor prints.

Utagawa toyokuni biography of nancy

He was one of the heads of the renowned Utagawa school of Japanese woodblock artists, and was the person who really moved it to the position of great fame and power it occupied for the the rest of the nineteenth century.

He was born in Edo, the son of Kurohashi Gorobei, a carver of dolls and puppets, including replicas of Kabuki actors.

Toyokuni was apprenticed to the first head of the Utagawa house, Utagawa Toyoharu, whom his father knew well and who lived nearby, at about the age of 14.

One of his fellow pupils under Toyoharu was Toyohiro, whose pupil was the great landscape artist Hiroshige.

In recognition of his artistic ability, Toyokuni took the name Utagawa Toyokuni, in the common practise of using one syllable of hi