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
Rights
Public Domain
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...