Description

How ukiyo-e master Utagawa Kuniyoshi balanced satire and popularism in his immensely popular woodcuts

One of the most important and innovative Japanese artists of the 19th century, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) produced artistically and technically groundbreaking prints that met with great popularity among the general public. As a designer of commercially popular products he was constantly exploring new themes and idioms. Besides single sheets and series, often produced in close cooperation with the entertainment industry of his day, he also created works critiquing the upper-class establishment.

Kuniyoshi: Design and Entertainment in Japanese Woodcuts includes a selection of prints from the MAK, Vienna museum's extensive woodblock print collection, and demonstrates how his works speak to the great political and social changes in 19th-century Japan. Featuring a wealth of color illustrations, it demonstrates the range of possibility in popular Japanese woodcutting, from depictions of reality to fiction to dreams and everything in between, highlighting an art form that defined Japanese culture and eventually led to the inception of manga and anime.