勝川春章画 二代目小佐川常世|Kabuki Actor Osagawa Tsuneyo II
1787–88
Medium
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
12 4/5 x 5 13/16 in. (32.5 x 14.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1918
Accession Number
JP356
Tags
About the Artist
Katsukawa Shunshō · 1726–1792
Katsukawa Shunshō (1726–1793) revolutionized ukiyo-e printmaking by introducing realistic portraiture to kabuki actor prints, founding the Katsukawa school that would dominate theatrical imagery in late 18th-century Japan. Born in 1726, Shunshō transformed the conventional approach to yakusha-e (actor prints) by depicting performers with individual facial features and genuine likenesses rather tha...