Katsukawa Shunsho
1726–1792 · Ukiyo-e · 13 works
Katsukawa Shunshō made the individual performer increasingly recognizable in Japanese actor prints. Working in Edo, he gave Kabuki actors distinctive faces as well as the gestures and costumes of their roles. His teaching shaped the Katsukawa school, whose pupils included the young Hokusai, then known as Shunrō. Theater was only part of his activity: paintings and prints of women show another setting for his attention to pose and color. Looking between these subjects reveals how a figure can be both an identifiable person and an arrangement of expressive lines.
13 works · 1764–1792
Compare two actor portraits. How much of their individuality comes from the face, and how much from posture or dress?
Actor Ichikawa Raizô I as Hanakawado no Sukeroku in “The Soga Play: Announcement of the Spring Season by the Bush Warbler” (“Hitokidori harutsuge Soga”)About 1764
The Actor Otani Hiroji III as Onio Shinzaemon (?) in the Play Bunshin Sugatami Soga (?), Performed at the Morita Theater (?) in the Second Month, 1765 (?)c. 1765
Actor Ichikawa Danjûrô IV as an Immortal Hermit in “Tenjiku Tokubei Turns the Helm toward Home” (“Tenjiku Tokubei kokyô no torikaji”)About 1768
Actor Nakamura Sukegorô II as Ninja Aso no Matsuwaka in “The Genji Clan Now at Its Zenith” (“Ima o sakari suehiro Genji”)About 1768
Actors playing the roles of Giheiji and his son-in-law, Danshichi Kurobeic. 1768
Actors Sawamura Sôjûrô II as Chinese Sage Huangshi Gong and Ichikawa Danzô III as Chinese Warrior Zhang Liang in “At Mt. Otoko, a Trial of Strength in Drawing the Bow” (“Otokoyama yunzei kurabe”)About 1768
Actors Sawamura Sôjûrô II as Shunkan and Azuma Tôzô II as Oyasu in “Outing to Pick Pine Seedlings on the Rat-Day of theNew Year” (“Hime komatsu neno hi asobi”)About 1768
Actors Segawa Kikunojô II as Reizei, Ichikawa Komazô I as Suruga no Hachirô, and Ichikawa Yaozô II as Tada no Kurando in “The Genji Clan Now at Its Zenith” (“Ima o sakari suehiro Genji”)About 1768
The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro IV in a "Shibaraku" Role, Possibly from the Play Ima o Sakari Suehiro Genji (The Genji Clan Now at Its Zenith), Performed at the Nakamura Theater from the First Day of the Eleventh Month, 1768c. 1768
The Actor Ichikawa Danzo III as Shoki the Demon Queller in the Play Date Moyo Kumo ni Inazuma, Performed at the Morita Theater in the Tenth Month, 1768c. 1768
The Actor Otani Hiroji III as Abe no Muneto Disguised as a Peddler of Buckwheat Noodles, in the Play Otokoyama Yunzei Kurabe, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1768c. 1768
Actor Bandô Matatarô IV as Gempachibyôe in “Snowflakes: Plum Blossoms Kaomise” (“Mutsu no hana ume no kaomise”)About 1769- Three Beauties Chatting by a VerandaAbout 1792
Chōbunsai Eishi
Nanamachi of the Yotsumeya with Attendants Sumano and Akashi, c. 1787
Hishikawa Moronobu
Behind the Screen, c. 1673/81
Ichieisai Yoshitsuya
King of Italy (Itaria kokuo), from the series "People of Barbarian Nations (Bankoku jinbutsu zue)", 1861
