The Japanese Print Collection comprises 413 works of art: scrolls, ink and watercolour paintings, and coloured ukiyo-e woodblock prints. The yakusha-e genre (205 works) in particular, with its various scenes from kabuki performances, portraits of actors and backstage life, is the most extensively represented in the museum collection. Three productive and commercially successful 19th century artists form the core of this yakusha-e collection: Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Toyohara Kunichika and Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
Scene from the play “Soga Pattern in Date Colours” (1815) by Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) (歌川国貞, 三代豊国,1786–1864)The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)
Currently the museum holds 135 individual yakusha-e prints attributed to Utagawa Kunisada.
The earliest woodblock print of Utagawa Kunisada from museum collection dates back to 1815 and it portrays the same actor with whom Kunisada began his career in yakusha-e – the actor Nakamura Utaemon.
Scene from the play “The Treasury of Loyal Retainers” Scene from the play “The Treasury of Loyal Retainers”The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
An outstanding feature of the Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print and Kunisada’s work is the composition, especially valued in his polyptychs.
These extremely valuable features can be traced, for example, in the excellent prints telling the story of the 47 rōnin.
Possibly a scene from the play “The Disputed Succession” (Early 1830s) by Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) (歌川国貞, 三代豊国,1786–1864)The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
The print that shows Kunisada’s skills in recreating atmospheric portraits of onnagata is the portrait of the actor Onoe Kikugorō.
Scene from the play “The Life of Onoe Kikugorō III” Scene from the play “The Life of Onoe Kikugorō III”The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
There are more than 20 individual yakusha-e print of Utagawa Kuniyoshi in museum collection.
Hare (U) from the series “Selections for the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac” (ca 1845) by (Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳, 1797–1861)The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
There are four unique works of Utagawa Kuniyoshi in the collection that appear to portray signs of the Zodiac, but in actual fact they are portraits of actors that were easily recognizable to 19th century fans of Japan’s kabuki theatre.
This was a creative way of circumventing state-imposed censorship during the Tenpō reforms (1841–1843).
Scene from the play “Daybreak patterns of the crane and tortoise - first basket” Scene from the play “Daybreak patterns of the crane and tortoise - first basket” (1871) by Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周, 1835–1900)The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
Toyohara Kunichika
Toyohara Kunichika, one of the last masters of Edo ukiyo-e, is represented with 24 yakusha-e prints in museum collection.
[Mitate] Actors in the evening, returning to the dressing room (1865) by Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周, 1835–1900)The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
Kunichika visited kabuki dressing rooms and was friendly with the actors on an everyday basis and probably because of this he published the five-part Mitate: Actors in the Evening, Returning to the Dressing Room (『見立楽屋戻誹優夕栄』, ’Mitate gakuya modori haiyū yūbae’) in 1865, one work of which is in the museum collection.
The work portrays a young popular actor of the time Kawarazaki Gonjūrō I (the later Ichikawa Danjūrō IX) and Nakamura Ganpachi in the role of an okuri.
Scene from the play “Soga Pattern in Date Colours” (1815) by Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) (歌川国貞, 三代豊国,1786–1864)The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
Japan’s ukiyo-e, especially the genre of yakusha-e, has an abundance of fine detail, symbols and tells countless stories. These prints serve as unique evidence of the history of Japan and kabuki theatre.
The content portrayed in them and their technical execution influenced Western art, fashion and design in the late 19th century, becoming a subject for enthusiastic research for many artists in Europe and America, and of course, in Latvia as well.
Exhibition Curator: Kristīne Milere, LNMA / Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
Japanese language translations: Uģis Nastevičs
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