The Actor Ichikawa Yaozo III with a geisha, from an untitled series of prints showing Actors in private life
c. 1783/84
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban
Dimensions
29.2 × 14.5 cm (11 1/2 × 5 3/4 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
22759
Art Historical Context
Torii Kiyonaga, a master of ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") Japan's Edo period, created this captivating color woodblock print around 1783–84. Titled *The Actor Ichikawa Yao III with a geisha it belongs to an untitled series depicting kabuki stars in their offstage lives. The narrow hosoban format—measuring just 29.2 × 14.5 cm—allowed these prints to be affordable keepsakes, often carried in sleeves or pasted into albums, making art accessible beyond elite circles. The scene offers a rare glimpse into the private world of Ichikawa Yaozo III, a celebrated onnagata (female role speci...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonaga · 1752–1815
Torii Kiyonaga, born Sekiguchi Shinsuke in 1752 in Uraga, Sagami Province, was the son of an Edo bookseller who owned tenements near a bustling fish market. At age 14 in 1765, he began his apprenticeship under Torii Kiyomitsu, the third-generation head of the prestigious Torii school of ukiyo-e, renowned for kabuki theater illustrations and signage. Adopted into the Torii family, Kiyonaga succeede...