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Kunihiro (fl. 1816 - 1841)

Kabuki Actor Arashi Rikan as Miyamoto Musashi in Snow

Medium: Woodblock Print
Date: c. 1838
Size (H x W): 14.5 x 9.75 (inches)
Publisher: Tenki
Signature: Kunihiro ga
Condition: Good color, very good impression and state, light soiling

SOLD

About the artist

A member of the Utagawa school, Kunihiro worked for many years in Osaka, steadily presenting quality designs throughout his active period. His yakusha-e (actor prints) tend towards representation of the popular actors Nakamura Utaemon III and Arashi Kichisaburo II. During the mid-1820s Kunihiro took Shigeharu as a pupil. The two continued to collaborate even as Shigeharu became a prolific and popular artist in his own right.

 

Though he initially worked with variety of publishers including Wataki (1816), Honsei (1816), and Hirooka (1817), Kunihiro found a career-long connection with Tenki. A novel of the time describes Kunihiro as “Tenmaya Kunihiro,” as if suggesting that Kunihiro himself was a proprietor at the publishing house. The artist worked with Tenki exclusively until 1823, after which point he occasionally produced compositions for Honsei as well.