THIS EXHIBITION of Kuniyoshi’s prints at the Royal Academy in London features over 150 works with the emphasis on Kuniyoshi as a master of imaginative design. It aims to reveal the graphic power and beauty of his prints across a range of subjects, including his ingenuous use of the triptych format. The majority of the works in the exhibition are drawn from the collection of Professor Arthur R. Miller, which has recently been donated to the American Friends of the British Museum. This is the first major exhibition in the United Kingdom on Utagawa Kuniyoshi since 1961.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi was born in Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1797. He was the son of a silk dyer named Yanagiya Kichiemon and was given the name Yoshisaburô at birth. At the age of 14, Yoshisaburô joined the Utagawa School of ukiyo-e artists, then headed by Utagawa Toyokuni I (1769-1825). Toyokuni I gave Yoshisaburô the name Utagawa Kuniyoshi; ‘Kuniyoshi’ being a combination of the names ‘Toyokuni’ and ‘Yoshisaburô’. In 1814, Kuniyoshi ended his apprenticeship and set out as an independent artist.
He initially produced actor prints in the style of his teacher, which gained him little recognition. Kuniyoshi only achieved commercial and artistic breakthrough in 1827 with the first six designs of the series, The 108 Heroes of the Suikoden (known in the West as The Water Margin). This series was based upon a 14th-century Chinese novel about the adventures of a band of 108 honourable bandits and rebels. Although Kuniyoshi is now universally known as Utagawa Kuniyoshi, he also used the names Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi, Chô-ô-rô Kuniyoshi, Igusa Kuniyoshi, Ichi Kuniyoshi and Saihôsa Kuniyoshi.
Kuniyoshi is now considered a master of the ukiyo-e school, and, together with Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) and Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864), dominated 19th-century printmaking in Japan. Prolific and multi-talented, Kuniyoshi considerably expanded the existing repertoire of the school, especially with the introduction of the literally thousands of designs he created that brought so vividly to life famous military exploits in Japan and China. His portrayal of the historic heroes of Japan’s warrior past and the brigands from the The Water Margin gave dramatic pictorial expression to the great myths and legends that had accrued around the ancient stories. Kuniyoshi’s images of heroes, with which he made his name, are considered the most important part of his artistic output. However, censorship regulations frequently required him to displace events of recent centuries to a more distant fictionalised past. Kuniyoshi developed an extraordinarily powerful and imaginative style in his prints, often spreading a scene dynamically across all three sheets of the traditional triptych format and linking the composition with one bold unifying element, which was considered a major artistic innovation.
It is important to note that he was also very active in other major subjects and genres of floating world art: prints of beautiful women, Kabuki actors, landscapes, comic themes, erotica, as well as commissioned paintings. In each of these areas he was experimental, imaginative and distinctly different from his contemporaries. For example, he transformed the genre of landscape prints by incorporating Western conventions, such as cast shadows and innovative applications of perspective. This departure from tradition is an indication of his independent artistic spirit.
The exhibition at the RA is divided into six sections beginning with Kuniyoshi’s Imagination, which presents the range of the artist’s repertoire and his unique treatment. Then there follow more in-depth selections: warriors, landscapes, beauties, theatre and humour. Highlights will include rare original brush drawings and a woodblock, a selection of extraordinary dynamic triptych prints and one of the only known examples of a set of 12 comic erotic prints.
Until 7 June in the Sackler Wing of the Royal Academy or Arts, London, www.royalacademy.org.uk.
A catalogue written by Timothy Clark accompanies the exhibition.
