Born
in
1786
in
Honjo,
Japan,
Kunisada
began
producing
prints
as
early
as
1807
and
continuously
developed
his
style
until
his
death
in
1865.
Toward
the
end
of
the
Edo
period
in
the
1850s
and
‘60s,
Kunisada,
Hiroshige,
and
Kuniyoshi—all
part
of
the
Utagawa
school
of
ukiyo-e—were
three
of
the
most
widely
renowned
woodcut
print
artists
in
Japan
at
the
time.
Unfortunately,
as
the
genre
gained
popularity
among
European
and
American
collectors
in
the
late
19th
and
early
20th
century,
all
three
came
to
be
regarded
as
inferior
to
the
earlier
greats
of
classical
ukiyo-e
such
as
Katsushika
Hokusai.
Toward... Read More
the
middle
of
the
20th
century
however,
both
Hiroshige
and
Kuniyoshi’s
works
were
re-evaluated
by
Western
art
historians,
and
soon
became
considered
masters
of
their
art.
Though
it
wasn’t
until
the
1990s
that
Kunisada’s
prints
returned
to
the
spotlight
to
take
their
rightful
place
in
art
history.