When Kunisada (or Toyokuni III, as he was then known) died in 1865 he was still immensely popular after a career that had begun in 1808. Kunisada had masses of pupils, designed many thousands of prints, earned respect as well as good fees. His talent could not give life to all his designs (many of which were the work of his pupils), but at his best he is one of the great ukiyo-e artists. In the late 19th century his work was dismissed offhand in the West as being immensely inferior to that of his predecessors. But when we look at his best actor prints, his surimono, his best bijin prints he ranks among the greatest. A pity his mediocre hack-work exists in such great numbers.
