The Actor Ichikawa Monnosuke I as Oiso no Tora in the play "Nigiwai Suehiro Soga," performed at the Morita Theater in the first month, 1721 (?)
c. 1721
Medium
Hand-colored woodblock print; hosoban, urushi-e
Dimensions
32.4 × 15.8 cm (12 13/16 × 6 1/4 in.)
Classification
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
36194
Art Historical Context
Torii Kiyonobu I's *The Actor Ichikawa Monuke I as Oiso no Tora in the playNigiwai Suehiro Soga"* captures a vibrant moment from kabuki theater around 1721 at the Morita Theater in (modern Tokyo). This hand-colored woodblock print depicts the famous onnagata actor Ichikawa Monnosuke in the role of Oiso noora, a seductive courtesan from the popular Soga brothers revenge drama. Produced during the height of ukiyo-e—"pictures of the floating world"—art, it reflects the era's obsession with theater stars, whose images were avidly collected by fans as affordable celebrity portraits. Printed in the...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonobu I · 1664–1729
Torii Kiyonobu I (1664–1729), born Shōbei in Osaka, was the second son of Torii Kiyomoto, a prominent kabuki actor specializing in onnagata roles and a painter of theater signboards. He studied painting under his father as well as Yoshida Hanbei and Hishikawa Moronobu, the pioneering ukiyo-e master whose figure styles profoundly shaped his early work. In 1687, at age twenty-four, Kiyonobu accompan...