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Introduction

Kunisada's Twelve Month Series

October 10, 2008 - February 1, 2009

“Twelve Months,” this beautiful set of triptychs by the 19th-century Japanese printmaker Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865), depicts genre scenes, or scenes of everyday life, in the Edo period (1603–1867). The Edo period (named for the town that is now modern Tokyo) was ushered in by the consolidation of the Tokugawa shogun’s power, which introduced a prolonged period of peace. With the patronage and support of a new class of well-to-do town dwellers (called chōnin in Japanese), commerce, the arts, crafts, kabuki theater, and entertainment offered by the teahouses and courtesans of the licensed pleasure quarters flourished, contributing to the development of a distinctive new urban culture.

Japanese prints illustrating genre subjects evolved, at least in part, from an earlier tradition of painting festival and city scenes. Screen paintings of festivals, associated with the seasons, seasonal activities, and specific monthly celebrations, are reminders of time’s passing and of the annual cycle of the calendar. In the 16th century, screen paintings of panoramic city views became popular, their details showing scenes of daily activities. Kunisada’s prints draw their inspiration from these early genre depictions.

Seasonal activities, most performed by women, are Kunisada’s primary subjects. He alternates between mundane pursuits, such as the airing of clothes (The Sixth Month), with the preparation of rice cakes (mochi) for the New Year’s holiday (The Twelfth Month), contrasting the cycle of daily life (ke) with the extraordinary (hare) quality of religious festival days (harebi), and highlighting the passage of time.

The subject of the twelve months was first introduced into the Japanese print repertory in the 18th century by Okumura Masanobu (1686–1764), a highly innovative Japanese printmaker. In contrast to mainstream depictions of kabuki actors and courtesans boldly framed against a simple ground, this new type of work encompassed scenery as well. A century later, Kunisada carried on the seasonal theme, but expanded the traditional triptych format, which featured one figure per panel, by adding additional figures to some panels and by overlapping foreground and background details between panels. Whether set within elaborate domestic interiors or a landscape environment, Kunisada’s monumental compositions are often more unified and dynamic than those of his predecessors.

Note: Until 1873 the Japanese used a lunar calendar, in which the rotation of the seasons began with spring. The New Year, which marked the first day of spring, usually occurred in late January or early to mid-February in our solar Gregorian calendar.

Selected Objects

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Twelfth Month: Making Mochi Cakes (Shiwasu: Mochitsuki), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Fourth Month: The first cuckoo (Uzuki: Hatsu hototogisu), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Seventh Month: Waiting for the Moon (Fumizuki: Nijurokuya machi), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Fifth Month: Flower Arranging Contest (Satsuki, Ikebana awase), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Ninth Month: Chrysanthemum (?; character illegible) Party in the Ninth Month (Choyo: Kiku (?) no tsuki utage), 1854

Japanese

Miniature palanquin, probably 1800s

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Eleventh Month: The Cock's Fair (Shimotsuki: Tori no machi), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Tenth Month (Indian summer): First snow (Koharu: hatsuyuki), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The First Month: First Dance of the New Year (Moshun: Odorizome), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

[The Second Month] Seasonal Change of Clothes: Plum Viewing (Koromogae umemi), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Eighth Month: Moon Viewing on the Fifteenth Night (Hatsuki: Tsukimi), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Sixth Month: Summer airing of clothes (Minazuki: doyoboshi), 1854

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Third Month: The Doll Festival (Yayoi: Hina matsuri), 1854

Yamamoto Shōun

Views of the Four Seasons, 1906

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Kunisada's Twelve Month Series

October 10, 2008 - February 1, 2009
View Checklist PDF

RISD Museum

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