The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro V as Ashiya Doman in the Play Kikyo-zome Onna Urakata, Performed at the Morita Theater in the Seventh Month, 1776
c. 1776
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban
Dimensions
33.4 × 14.9 cm (13 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
31578
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of18th-century Japanese theater Katsukawa Shunsho's *The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro V as Ashiya D in the Play Kikyo-zome Onna Urakata*, created around 1776. This color woodblock captures the renowned kabuki star Ichikawa Danjuro in the role of the sorcerer Ashiya Doman during a performance at the Morita Theater in (modern-day Tokyo). Shunsho, a master of the ukiyo-e tradition—"pictures of the floating world"—specialized in yakusha-e, intimate portraits of actors that brought the drama of kabuki to everyday viewers. Printed in the narrow hosoban format (33.4 × 14.9 cm),...