Founder of the Utagawa school’s prominence in Edo printmaking, Toyokuni I was one of the most influential ukiyo-e artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A pupil of Utagawa Toyoharu, he excelled in yakusha-e (kabuki actor portraits) and bijin-ga (images of beautiful women). Toyokuni’s portraits captured the vitality and personality of famous actors with expressive realism, bridging the refined elegance of the Torii school and the dynamism later perfected by Kunisada and Kuniyoshi. His collaborative print series and book illustrations were also widely admired. As head of the Utagawa school, he trained many pupils, including Kunisada (Toyokuni III), who carried his legacy into the late Edo period. Toyokuni died in Edo in 1825, leaving behind a vast and formative body of work.
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Additional Artworks
From Jerome Lion
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UTAGAWA KUNIYOSHI
Mimeguri, 1834
Color woodblock print on paper
14 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches
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YANAGAWA SHIGENOBU
Urashima Taro From Kotobuki Goban No Uchi serie, 1823 - Bunsei 6
Color woodblock print on paper
H 211 mm x L 177 mm
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KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI
Manpuku Wago Jin - double page, 1821
E-hon
21,5 x 27,5 cm
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UTAGAWA TOYOKUNI I
Kabuki Diptych, c. 1820
Color woodblock print on paper
14 5/8 x 19 1/2 inches
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KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI
"Genshin Gakyo" serie, c. 1810
Color woodblock print on paper
22 x 15.5 cm
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KATSUKAWA SHUNSEN
Katada Rakugan View From Omi Hakkei, 1810
Color woodblock print on paper
H 231 mm x L 171 mm
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KITAGAWA UTAMARO
Shunga - Married woman with her young lover, c. 1802
woodblock print on paper
20.6 x 15.5 cm
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KOIKAWA SHOZAN
Shunga - Parody of the 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō, 19e
E-hon, Color woodblock print on paper
About the artist
UTAGAWA TOYOKUNI I
1769-1825