The Actor Arashi Sangoro II as Ito Kuro Disguised as Banta in the Play Izu-goyomi Shibai no Ganjitsu, Performed at the Morita Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1772
c. 1772
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban; right sheet of diptych
Dimensions
30.1 × 14.3 cm (11 7/8 × 5 5/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
86402
Art Historical Context
Step into the lively world of 18th-century Japanese theater this colorful woodblock print by Katsukawa Shunsho, a master of ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating." Titled *The Actor Arashi Sangoro as Ito Kuro Disgu as Banta in the Izu-goyomi Shibai no Ganjitsu*, created around 1772, it captures the kabuki star in a dynamic disguise from a performance at Tokyo's Morita Theater. As the right sheet of a dipt in the narrow hosoban format (30.1 × 14.3 cm), it invites viewers to imagine its companion panel, together forming a complete theatrical scene. Shunsho's yakusha-e (actor prints) revolutioni...