1829
ink
paper
From the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art
Untitled is a 1829 ink by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, a Romanticism work, depicting Actor, held at Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This print shows a person in a dramatic pose, kneeling on one knee with a sword drawn. They’re dressed in a mix of armor and robes, with a wide-brimmed hat and a cloth wrapped around their arm. A bird flies in the background, and the person holds a fan or scroll in one hand. The colors are bold—deep greens, reds, and blacks—with sharp lines defining the shapes. Notice how the artist uses fine lines to create texture, especially on the face and armor. The writing on the right side is Japanese, likely adding context or a poem. If you like this style, look up cross-hatching to see how artists build shading with lines.
Kuniyoshi grew up in old Tokyo when the city was still called Edo. His dad ran a silk shop, but Kuniyoshi loved anything with pictures—scrolls, screens, comic books. He talked his way into the Utagawa school, a kind of…
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