Kunisada: Beauty and View of Tsuchiyama in the Rain (Sold)

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)
Title: Beauty and View of Tsuchiyama in the Rain
Series: Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road (Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi)
Date: ca. 1838

A beauty dressed elegantly against the weather looks behind her at a Hiroshige-like view of Tsuchiyama on the Tokaido, which is busy with travelers. Number six in this interesting chuban series of the Tokaido Road. The beautifully-dressed bijin seems to be almost superimposed on the scene; she and the background scene seem to be connected by a cloud of imagination. The publishers were probably trying to do some cross-promotion of their artists and series. This print does not directly copy the Hiroshige Hoeido Tokaido version of the station, unlike many others in the series, but man running through the rain does have echoes of the famous station of Shono.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. Fold near right edge.
Dimensions: chûban 24.8 x 19 cm
Publisher: Sanoya Kihei
Literature: Andreas Marks, Kunisada's Tokaido: Riddles in Japanese Woodblock Prints, 2013, p. 75, cat. no. T24-50, and pp. 76-83 (on series). Utagawa Kunisada: 150th Anniversary of His Death, Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 2014, p. 136, no. 182. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (mfa.org), from the Bigelow Collection, accession no. 11.19889.

Signature: Kôchôrô Kunisada ga

SKU: KUC034S