Kuniyoshi: Actor as Evening Glow (Sold)

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Title: Actor as Evening Glow
Series: Selected Fine Performances of Actors for the Eight Views (Mitate saiku yakusha hakkei)
Date: ca. 1834

An actor enjoying a pleasure boat. An onnagata, he is dressed in women’s garb and holds a toothpick in his left hand and a latticework pouch in his right. Although he wears Japanese clothing and rides a Japanese watercraft, the scenery behind him is done in a deliberately foreign manner, with many strange types of clouds and stylized hills in the distance, along with exotic- looking huts. This is meant to evoke China, one of the famous 8 views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers. This view of “Evening Glow” is compared to a performance. A butterfly floats lower right, perhaps a nod to an element of the landscape or performance. From one of Kuniyoshi’s earliest and most interesting actor series.

Condition: Excellent impression and condition; very good color.
Dimensions: ôban
Publisher: Shimizu-ya
Literature: Robinson series 167.
Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga within an irregularly-shaped cartouche

SKU: KUY473