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Utagawa Kunisada
b. 1786
   d. 1864
Japan

Kunisaga was the most prolific actor portraitist of the 19th century. He was the head of a sizable studio that produced some 20,000 different images and he very successfully commercialized the mass-production of his prints. After study with Toyokuni, he made his debut in 1808 and worked tirelessly until his death in 1864. He took the name of his teacher in 1844, and is known as Toyokuni III.

Utagawa  Kunisada's work was exhibited in
The Deconstruction of Biblio Borders
 works from the Special collections of the Newark Public Library
From "Collection of the Five Elements Compared: Wood"
(1852) EHON An album of color woodblock prints issued in 1852. This remarkable album is made up of a series of prints in triptych format so that the viewer may turn pages in sequence in the three sections and enjoy a superb variety of subjects. In this highly amusing river scene full of activity and color, traditional divers surface with small curiosities for the pleasure of an elegantly dressed small group of people anxiously awaiting the results of the underwater searches by the scantily clad expert swimmers.

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