Silhouette Image of Kabuki Actor
19th century
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Approx. 14 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (36.8 x 24.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Meiji period (1868–1912)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Mary Martin, 1938
Accession Number
JP2748.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking *Silhouette Image of Kabuki Actor* Utagawa Yoshiiku the dramatic flair of Japan's Kabuki theater through a masterful woodblock print. Created in the Meiji period (1868–2), the work features a profile view of an actor—likely portraying a female role, as suggested by the tags—rendered in bold ink and vibrant colors on paper. Measuring about 14½ x 9½ inches, its intimate scale invites close viewing, evoking the shadowy elegance of a stage spotlight. Yoshiiku, a prominent ukiyo-e artist from the Utagawa school, specialized in yakusha-e (actor prints) that celebrated the larger-than-...
About the Artist
Utagawa Yoshiiku · 1833–1904
Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833–1904) was a prolific Japanese woodblock print artist and journalist who lived through one of the most turbulent and transformative periods in his country's history, the transition from the Edo period through the Meiji Restoration. A student of the celebrated Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Yoshiiku inherited his master's taste for bold compositional drama and dynamic figuration, applying...