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Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797 - 1861)		The attack: Scene from a kabuki play
		Preparatory brush drawing; sumi (black ink) on thin paper. Date:                   c. 1840s-50s Size of sheet:      31. 5 x 22 cms / c. 12 3/8" x 8 5/8" Condition: Fine. A pentimento (the samurais's head). Provenance: Kuniyoshi's studio. Ref. no.: # 753131 Price:  € 6,500.00

A samurai grabs a boy by the neck,pushing him down so that his legs and and arms are stretched out as if to fend off his adversary. The samurai himself takes a repulsing pose, his left leg put forward to have a secure footing. In his left hand he holds an unidentified item pointing to the direction he is looking at. A powerful preparatory drawing, possibly depicting a kabuki scene. By far the largest body of surviving preparatory drawings for Japanese prints is formed by the brush work of Kuniyoshi. It seems that his studio preserved and systematically collected the master’s drawings to an extent unparalleled by other schools, to serve as teaching material for his many students. The drawings were initially bound in numerous albums inscribed Kuniyoshi sô ('Kuniyoshi’s drafts') which then may have been bought by the French dealer, BING, in the early 1880s. Two of the albums were directly bought by the V&A MUSEUM in London in 1889, many others by the Parisian collector EMILE JAVAL. From there, many were acquired by the Dutch collector F. LIEFTINCK from the dealer FELIX TIKOTIN. These were finally acquired by the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, in 1958. Eight other albums were reportedly in the collection of Mr. THOMAS STAUFFER of Chicago as late as in the 1960s (information taken from the sources listed below). Reference: Detailed information on Kuniyoshi’s shita-e, his style and artistic approach, as well as on the origins of the drawings, is given by Matthi Forrer in his study of the holdings in the Museum of Ethnology at Leiden, NL. We highly recommend the following books: - M. Forrer, Drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi - from the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology Leiden; The Hague, 1988. - B.W. Robinson, Drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi - in the collection of Ferd. Lieftinck of Haren, Holland; Groningen, 1953. - Fagioli, Utagawa Kuniyoshi: 90 disegni; Firenze, 1985. - Fagioli, Kuniyoshi - an appreciation of his drawings; in: ANDON no. 21; 1986.

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