Utagawa Kuniteru III

Utagawa Kuniteru III 三代 歌川国輝 (1830-1874)   

BIOGRAPHY

Little information is available on the rather minor print artist Utagawa Kuniteru III (1830-1874) and what information is available is somewhat contradictory. According to The Hotei Encyclopedia, Kuniteru III was initially a student of Utagawa Kunitsuru II 歌川国鶴 (二代) and assumed the name Kunitsuru III 国靏 (二代) upon his teacher's death in 1874. However, other sources list the death date of Kunitsuru II as 19191, making it very unlikely that he ever assumed the name Kunitsuru III. What does seem fairly certain is that he went on to become a student of Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900) and used the signature Toyohara Kuniteru 豊原国輝, along with the signatures Kyokusai Kuniteru, Toyosu Kuniteru and Okada Kuniteru, as shown below.

His main artistic output were bunmei kaika-e (pictures of modernization), similar to Utagawa Kuniteru II (1830-1874) . While he is credited with the design of sumo-e, I believe that is in error due to confusion with the works of Kuniteru I (1808-1876).  In addition, the works of Utagawa Kuniteru III and Utagawa Kuniteru II (1830-1874) are often confused.

Signatures and Seals Attributed to the Artist (a sampling)

Prints in Collection

[BELOW PRINTS GIFTED TO THE JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM OF ART, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON]

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