Kabuki Actor Iwai Kumesaburo as Yokogawa

Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) was born in Edo, the son of Kurohashi Gorobei, a carver of dolls and puppets, including replicas of kabuki actors.  He became a pupil of Toyoharu, the first head of the Utagawa School, at about the age of 14. Toyokuni mastered, then synthesized his master’s styles, eventually creating a style of his own.  He was known mostly for his prints related to the kabuki theatre, in particular his actor-portraits.

Toyokuni set himself apart from other woodblock artists by portraying actors realistically, and without the commonly used technique of exaggeration. This made Toyokuni's prints extremely popular among theater-goers. His popularity grew from 1803 through 1817 however as his work became more static it lost some of its appeal to the public.