Shin

About this artwork

Aankoop met steun van de Vereniging Rembrandt en het Ministerie van Onderwijs, Kunsten en Wetenschappen

Art Historical Context

Created between 1773 and 1777, "Shin" is a compact color woodcut by Utagawa Toyonobu, measuring just 246 by 186 millimeters. As a member of the renowned Utagawa school, Toyonobu worked during Japan’s Edo period, when ukiyo-e prints flourished as an accessible art form depicting the “floating world” of actors, courtesans, and urban pleasures. The small scale of this piece suggests it may have been intended for personal collections or albums rather than large displays. Color woodcuts like this one represent a significant technical achievement in Japanese printmaking. Artists used multiple carved blocks to apply vibrant hues, allowing for rich detail and repeatable production that reached a broad audience beyond the aristocracy. Toyonobu’s work helped refine these methods, blending elegant line work with subtle color gradations that captured fleeting moments of beauty and drama. Acquired with support from the Vereniging Rembrandt and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Arts and Sciences, the print now stands as a testament to the enduring cross-cultural appeal of ukiyo-e. Its presence in a Western collection underscores how these 18th-century Japanese prints profoundly influenced later European artists and collectors.