Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)
Heavy Snow at Year's End (歳暮の深雪) triptych
1844
30.5 in x 14.75 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: center & left: Kunisada aratame nidai Toyokuni ga
Kunisada name-changed to Toyokuni II (国貞改二代豊国)
Right: Kunisada aratame Ichiyōsai Toyokuni ga
(国貞改一陽斎豊國画)
Publisher: Kawachiya Chōzō
Censor: Muramatsu
Ota Memorial Museum of Art It is probably bitterly cold with a strong wind whipping from our left to the right. Is that a snow drift just behind the women? The woman on the left is holding a blue and white porcelain saké bottle in her right hand and a lantern in her left. On the lantern, along the left side, are visible the kanji characters found in the publisher's seal. The woman in the middle panel with the fully open umbrella is fighting the wind while the woman on the right is bent against the wind and may not be able to open her umbrella fully. The fabrics of the head-coverings, the zukin (頭巾) and their kimonos are all being blown toward the right.
To our eyes, this is one of the lovelier compositions created by Kunisada at this time. When Toyokuni I died Kunisada thought that he should pick up his master's mantle by assuming his name. But Toyokuni's son-in-law, Toyoshige, got the honors and became Toyokuni II. However, for whatever reason, he gave up the name in the mid-1830s. We do not know why it took Kunisada so many years to try to take that name, but it did. And, as can be seen by the signature on this triptych, Kunisada wanted to be given the name that he thought should have rightfully been his from the start. Nevertheless, Kunisada was soon convinced that he could not take that name and became known ever after as Toyokuni III. He went on to become the most prolific Japanese print artist of the 19th century by the time he died in 1865.
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There is another copy of this triptych in the Monet collection at Giverny, but it is not illustrated online. There is also a copy at the Seikado Bunko collection.
Kawachiya Chōzō (publisher)
beautiful woman picture (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)