Utagawa KUNISADA II
(Japan 1823–1880)
- Title
- Evening glow at Seta
- Other titles:
- Eight Views of Lake Biwa: Evening glow at Seta
- Alternative title:
- Ômni hakkei no uchi
- Place of origin
-
Japan
- Period
- Edo (Tokugawa) period 1615 - 1868 → Japan
- Year
- 1850-1852
- Media category
- Materials used
- colour woodcut; ôban triptych
- Dimensions
-
35.0 x 74.5cm image/sheet overall:
part a; 35 x 24.7cm; height x width
part b; 35 x 24.8cm; height x width
part c; 35 x 24.7cm; height x width
- Signature & date
- Signed l.r. [left sheet: part c] in Japanese, black ink "[Baichôrô Kunisada ga]". Signed l.l. [centre sheet: part b] in Japanese, black ink "[Nidai-me Kunisada ga]". Signed l.r. [right sheet: part a] in Japanese, black ink "[Ichijusai Kunisada ga]". Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of G F Williams 1995
- Accession number
- 424.2001.a-c
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
KUNISADA II (Toyokuni IV) was a pupil of KUNISADA I, and married his master's daughter in 1852. Around the time he changed his 'gô' from Kunisama to names such as Kunisada II, Ichijusai, Baichôrô, then Toyokuni in the early 1870s. He produced many characters of the so-called 'decadent' period of late 'ukiyo-e'.
Being on the Tôkaidô Highway from Edo (present Tokyo) to Kyoto, the bridge over the Seta River, south of the lake, has been an important thoroughfare as well as one of the icons of the Lake Biwa. May 'ukiyo-e' artists created their version of the 'eight views of Lake Biwa' series. Perhaps the most famous one was Hiroshige's. In the last decades of the Edo period, the focus shifted from the views themselves to the depiction of people; in this design three people are in the foreground resting on their way home from cherry blossom viewing with the bridge in the background, and the sumptuous presentation of their kimonos seemed to be the main concern.
Asian Art Dept.
AGNSW 16 October 2001- Bibliography (1)
-
Khanh Trinh (Editor), Genji - the world of the Shining Prince, Sydney, 2008, 36 (colour illus.), 50-51 (colour illus.). fig. 16. The colour illus. on pages 50-51 is a detail of this work. In the exhibition list of works this piece was incorrectly attributed to acc. no 289.2007.4 of the same chapter title.
