Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

TOYOHARA KUNICHIKA (1835 - 1900) A BEAUTY IN FRONT OF MIRROR
Woodcut, 1878. Number 9 from the bijin series 'Mirror of the Flowering of Manners and Customs' (Kaika Ninjo Kagami), published by Kobayashi Tetsujiro. Signed 'Toyohara Kunichika hitsu', red Toshidama seal. Very good impression with embossing, fine colour; album backing, minor marks and flaws, generally in very good condition. 'Oban', 355 x 238 mm.

Around the age of eleven, Kunichika became a student of Chikanobu. At the age of thirteen he entered the studio of Kunisada as an apprentice. In 1864, Kunisada died and Kunichika designed two memorial prints of the deceased master. This indicates that he must have had acquired some kind of outstanding position at the Kunisada studio. Kunichika was a rather bohemian artist, there are several credible stories about his drinking habits and his brothel tours reported by his fellow artists Kawanabe Kyosai and Kobayashi Kiyochika. Another of his passions was Kabuki; the artist was a regular backstage visitor to Kabuki theaters where he spent hours making sketches of actors. Kunichika is foremost known as a designer of actor prints, but he also created prints of beautiful women and some designs with historic scenes.