April 23, 2024
Kabuki Theater: Samurai Holding Baby Utagawa Kunisada III Hôsai Japanese Print
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Framed Dimensions: 19 1/2" Tall x 15 1/2" WideOban/Print Dimensions: 13 3/4" Tall x 9 3/4" WideUtagawa Kunisada III (歌川国貞) (1848--1920) was an ukiyo-e printmaker of the Utagawa school, specializing in yakusha-e (pictures of kabuki actors). He began studying under Utagawa Kunisada I at the age of 10, and continued under Kunisada II after their master's death.He originally signed his prints "Kunimasa" or "Baidō Kunimasa". About 1889, he began signing his prints "Kunisada", "Baidō Kunisada" or "Kōchōrō Kunisada". By 1892, he was using "Hōsai", "Kōchōrō Hōsai", "Baidō Hōsai", and "Utagawa Hōsai".It was a Japanese custom for successful apprentices to take the names of their masters. In the main Utagawa school, there was a hierarchy of gō (art-names), from the most senior to junior. As each senior person died, the others would move up a step.The head of the school generally used the gō (and signed his prints) as Toyokuni. When Kunisada I proclaimed himself head of the school (c. 1842), he started signing as Toyokuni, and the next most senior member, Kochoro (a name also previously used by Kunisada I, but not as his chief gō), started signing as Kunisada (Kunisada II, in this case).The next most senior member after him, in turn, began signing as Kunimasa (Kunimasa IV, in this case), which had been Kochoro's gō before he became Kunisada
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