Arashi Ryuzo as a Tall Woman Standing on the Engawa
ca. 1789
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
12 1/2 x 5 2/3 in. (31.8 x 14.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1914
Accession Number
JP161
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the vibrant world of Edo-period Japan (1615–1868), Katsukawa Shunkō's woodblock print *Arashi Ryuzo as a Tall Woman Standing on Engawa* (ca. 1789) captures the theatrical flair of kabuki drama. Shunkō, a master of the ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") tradition, specialized in yakusha-e—dynamic portraits of actors. Here, the renowned kabuki performer Arashi Ryūzō appears as a strikingly tall woman poised on an engawa, the open veranda of a traditional Japanese home, evoking everyday elegance amid nature's subtle presence, hinted by trees in the composition. This ink and color on p...
About the Artist
Katsukawa Shunkō
Katsukawa Shunkō I (1743–1812) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who pioneered the ōkubi-e (large-head) portrait format in kabuki actor prints and served as possibly the first student of Katsukawa Shunshō, the founder of the influential Katsukawa school. Born in 1743, Shunkō spent his entire life in Edo (modern Tokyo), working as both a painter and ukiyo-e printmaker specializing in yakusha-e (actor p...