page_title: Female Ghost (Kunisada)
section_title: Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)
hierarchical_section_title: Female Ghost (Kunisada) / Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)
caption_attribution_description: English: Kunisada signature from Female Ghost print
context_page_description: Female Ghost is an ukiyo-e woodblock print dating to 1852 by celebrated Edo period artist Utagawa Kunisada, also known as Toyokuni III. Female Ghost exemplifies the nineteenth century Japanese vogue for the supernatural and superstitious in the literary and visual arts. The print is part of the permanent collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.
context_section_description: Born in 1786 in the Honjō district of Edo, Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) was an apprentice of Toyokuni I, whom he later succeeded as Toyokuni III (三代歌川豊国). Although he debuted as a book illustrator in 1807 with illustrations for the series of beauties "Twelve Hours of the Courtesans" (Keisei jūnitoki), his production really took off from 1809. He founded his own studio in the early 1810s, and demand for his illustrations soon outstripped that for his master’s. Not only was he respected for his artistic talent, he was also admired for his "convivial and balanced demeanor, and [the fact that] he delivered his commissions on time."
  Kunisada has been described as "without a doubt... was the most prolific and successful print artist of all time." Until the time of his death in 1865, he was incredibly prodigious, creating between 35 and 40 thousand designs for individual ukiyo-e prints. He produced images from diverse genres, including kabuki-e (pictures of kabuki actors), bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women), yūrei-zu (ghost pictures), sumō-e (sumo wrestler pictures), shunga (erotica) and musha-e (warrior prints).
  According to modern critics, Kunisada was "a trendsetter... in tune with the tastes of urban society." He is credited with infusing ukiyo-e with a sense of realism, particularly in his representations of female subjects. Compared with the females idealized in prints by Utamaro, his women are shorter limbed, with shorter and rounder physiques. They are often posed with "slightly bent backs and knees, giving them a hunched up, stumpy look." Like the female spirit in this print, they generally have longer faces with strong jaws giving an impression of "greater self-possession, if not outright aggressiveness."
  The print dates to 1852 and was therefore done when Kunisada was 66, before his work declined into what has been described as "gaudy and ostentatious" use of colour. Critics tend to agree that Kunisada's later works suffered in quality "because of over-production and lowering of artistic standards."
caption: Kunisada signature from Female Ghost print
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