Kabuki Actor
ca. 1708
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
21 3/4 x 11 1/2 in. (55.2 x 29.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and Rogers Fund, 1949
Accession Number
JP3098
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of-period Japan with *Kabuki Actor*, a stunning woodblock print by Tor Kiyonobu I, around 1708. As a founder of the Torii school, Kiyonobu specialized in *yakusha-e*—portraits of Kabuki theater stars—that captured the drama and allure of performances. This ink and color on paper print, measuring 21 3/4 x 11 1/2 inches, exemplifies the ukiyo-e tradition, or "pictures of the floating world," celebrating urban pleasures like theater amid Japan's peaceful Edo era (1615–1868). Kabuki, a dynamic mix of dance, music, and stylized acting, was a cultural phenomenon in 18th-...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonobu I · 1664–1729
Torii Kiyonobu I (1664–1729), born Shōbei in Osaka, was the second son of Torii Kiyomoto, a prominent kabuki actor specializing in onnagata roles and a painter of theater signboards. He studied painting under his father as well as Yoshida Hanbei and Hishikawa Moronobu, the pioneering ukiyo-e master whose figure styles profoundly shaped his early work. In 1687, at age twenty-four, Kiyonobu accompan...