Utagawa Kuniyoshi at the Royal Academy of Arts

Exhibition of Japanese Art from the Arthur R. Miller Collection

Mar 24, 2009

The Royal Academy, jointly with the British Museum and Arthur R. Miller, presents Utagawa Kuniyoshi's finest work, including woodblock prints and original brush drawings.

The work of Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861), one of the greatest Japanese print artists, is on display at the Royal Academy of Arts. This is the first show to be mounted in the UK devoted to this artist since 1961. It is the third in a series devoted to Japanese artists. Previous shows were: Hokusai (1991-92), and Hiroshige: Images of Mist, Rain, Moon and Snow (1997).

In 2008 Professor Arthur R. Miller, the American legal scholar, presented an important collection of woodblock prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi to the American Friends of the British Museum.

The Royal Academy is now showing an exhibition of more than 150 pieces from the Miller collection supplemented by items from public and private collections in the UK, USA and Japan.

The exhibition shows the vivacity of Kuniyoshi's imagination brought to life through his powerful prints and rare original brush drawings. Kuniyoshi features satirical prints, portraits of fashionable beauties, depictions of tattooed Chinese heroes, landscapes, erotica, Kabuki actors and commissioned paintings.

Kuniyoshi has been jointly curated by Dr Adrian Locke of the Royal Academy of Arts, Japanese print specialist Israel Goldman, and Timothy Clark, Head of the Japanese Section in the Department of Asia at the British Museum.

As a master of the Ukiyo-e school (pronounced oo-kee-oh-ay), a style popular during Japan's Edo period, (1615-1868), Kuniyoshi dominated 19th-century Japanese printmaking. His work was experimental, imaginative and very different from that of his contemporaries such as Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849), Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858) and Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1864).

The triptych known as Mitsukuni defies the skeleton spectre conjured up by Princess Takiyasha (1845-6) is one of Kuniyoshi's best works.

This blood-curdling three-panel painting tells the story of Oya no Taro Mitsukuni, a 10th-century warrior hero. Mitsukuni is sent to overcome Princess Takiyasha, an evil sorceress and daughter of Taira no Masakado (d. 940), another warlord, who opposed the emperor of Kyoto. Takiyasha and a few followers are the only survivors in a ruined palace. The princess summons the terrifying skeleton but Mitsukuni overcomes her and her supporters. The centre panel shows two warriors, one looks straight at the skeleton while the other looks away, terrified. The skeleton appears to be laughing.

Also on display is the piece entitled Sakata Kaido-maru wrestles with a giant carp (c.1837). Sakata Kaido-maru is a legendary Japanese hero, often depicted as a child, called Kintaro. He is usually accompanied by his mother, the 'old hag of Mount Ashigara'. The inscription in the bottom left of the print describes how she gave birth to him 'after she saw him pass by in a dream with a red dragon'. The child became a renowned warrior. The legend of the struggle with the carp was created to highlight the boy's great strength. In Japan the carp symbolises valour.

Kuniyoshi will be supported by a full-colour publication written by Timothy Clark. The book investigates Kuniyoshi's approach to composition, the context of censorship in which he worked, and the broad subject-matter he chose to portray.

Kuniyoshi - Future Plans

After the London showing the exhibition will move to the Japan Society, New York, where it will be open from 12th March to 13 June 2010.

The exhibition runs until 7 June 2009. Further details can be obtained from the Royal Academy of Arts.

The copyright of the article Utagawa Kuniyoshi at the Royal Academy of Arts in Special Art Gallery Exhibits is owned by Frances Spiegel. Permission to republish Utagawa Kuniyoshi at the Royal Academy of Arts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.