Samurai: Stars of the Stage and Beautiful Women

The first extensive comparison of works by woodcut masters Kunisada and Kuniyoshi

In the early sixties, what was then the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf received a large gift of Japanese woodcuts (ukiyo-e), to which the donor generously added until 1988. Among them are 220 pieces by the illustrators Kunisada (1786–1865) and Kuniyoshi (1798–1861), which are distinguished by their finely tuned palettes and the expressive gestures of their figures. The prints take the viewer into a colorful, imaginative dream world, while some even seem like early examples of the Manga comics so popular today. This publication offers a rare opportunity to compare the two artists’ illustrations of the same themes. The essays provide an introduction to nineteenth-century Japanese popular culture, bridging the gap between the centuries by exploring aspects of the grotesque in Japanese art, explaining legends and plays, and presenting some of Kuniyoshi’s preliminary studies.