Ichikawa Danjūrō IX as Kezori Kuemon
About 1890
Medium
Color woodblock prints; ōban triptych
Dimensions
74 × 37 cm (29 3/16 × 14 5/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
102617
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This image from the play Love at Sea shows the pirate Kezori Kuemon standing on the prow of his ship and staring at the sea at a critical moment in the drama. The huge, glowing moon creates a halo effect as it illuminates the actor and his elaborate Chinese-style costume. This print does not depict a scene from nature but, instead, the illusion of a dark, clear night as it might appear on the Kabuki stage.
About the Artist
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1839–1892
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was born on April 30, 1839, in the Shimbashi district of Edo, the city that would become Tokyo. At the age of eleven he was apprenticed to Utagawa Kuniyoshi, one of the great masters of the Japanese woodblock print, who gave the boy the artist name 'Yoshitoshi' as a mark of lineage within the Utagawa School. From Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi absorbed the full tradition of ukiyo-e — th...