VIEW OF MOUNT FUJI FROM SHINJUKU (Utagawa Kunisada, Utagawa Hirokage)

N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print
Year: 1860
Condition: good
Size: 24 x 35 cm

SOLD

Description

Evocative view of Mount Fuji (富士山) from the perspective of the outer walls of Edo Castle (江戸城), in the Yotsuya (四谷) area, which introduced, coming from the city center, to the Naito Shinjuku (内藤新宿) district. In the foreground, the kabuki actors Sawamura Tossho II (二代目沢村訥升) and, on the left, Sawamura Tanosuke III (三代目沢村田之助).

The work, a yakusha-e (役者絵) actor print disguised in the form of a landscape probably to circumvent the restrictions of censorship, is taken from the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji from the Eastern Capital” (東都冨士三十六景). The actors were made by the famous artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞). The landscape in the background is, instead, signed by the artist Utagawa Hirokage (歌川広景).

The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), produced in 1860 by the publisher Tsujiokaya Bunsuke (辻岡屋文助), owner of Kinshodo (金松堂), and by the engraver Katada Chojiro (片田長次郎), despite the presence of some small holes and a horizontal central fold mark, is in overall good condition.