![Utagawa Kunisada, 御好夜るの梅見 [三枚続きのうち中], 1852](https://iiif.micr.io/oDegF/full/2000,/0/default.webp)
Utagawa Kunisada, 浮世五色合 白, 1844
Nightlife in Tokyo
Kunisada was a man of the world, who devoted both his life and his art to Tokyo’s nightlife district. He had mastered creating portraits of beautiful women, or bijinga.
In the woodcut White, he depicted the white skin of the courtesan. The poem at the top of the print praises the beauty of all that is white: the snow, the flower, and her neck – which we can admire thanks to the mirror.
![Utagawa Kunisada, 吾妻橋夕涼之景 [三枚続きのうち左], 1854](https://iiif.micr.io/Tailo/full/2000,/0/default.webp)
Utagawa Kunisada, 吾妻橋夕涼之景 [三枚続きのうち左], 1854
An incomplete image
A striking number of prints by Kunisada from Van Gogh’s collection were originally part of triptychs and series. So, Van Gogh would have had an extremely fragmented image of the Japanese printmaker.
Because the prints were part of a larger group, the compositions sometimes appear to be rather abruptly cropped. They therefore look more modern than originally intended.