Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Women with cat on an engawa by a goldfish pond
1851
30 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: yoshi kiri [芳桐]
Publisher: Mikawaya (Marks U225 - seal 23-061)
Censor: Mera and Watanabe
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
British Museum
Seattle Asian Art Museum The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston refers to this triptych as "Women on Palace Veranda at Night" or 夜の縁側. They may be the only institution that uses this title. Besides, this composition lacks a title cartouche. Perhaps this is why the British Museum does not even bother to give it a title.
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Kuniyoshi is often identified as the artist who portrayed cats in his prints more than anyone else did. This is so here, too. Notice the woman standing on the left is holding a cat
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What is the significance of Udagawachō in Ukiyo-e history? The answer might surprise you.
Andreas Marks gives the address of the publisher of this print as Edo Shiba Shinmeimae Udagawachō 芝神明前宇田川町. The firm's name is Mikawaya 三河屋, which can be read printed clearly down the center of the lower half of the seal. In Mark's book Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900 he sayson page 70 in the section on Toyoharu:
"Because he lived in Udagawachō in Edo’s Shiba district, he started to use the name Utagawa and, as things developed, he became the founder of the Utagawa school with Toyokuni and Toyohiro as his main students. Toyoharu had a strong influence on successive generations of print artists but was also the teacher of painters such as Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828), who created a distinctive Rinpa style in Edo. [The choice of bold type is ours.]
beautiful woman picture (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)
Genji related prints (Genji-e - 源氏絵) (genre)
Mikawaya (三河屋) (publisher)
Ryūtei Tanehiko (柳亭種彦) (author)