The Actor Iwai Hanshiro IV as Agemaki in the Play Sakai-cho Soga Nendaiki, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Third Month, 1771
c. 1771
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban; from a multisheet composition
Dimensions
31.7 × 14.5 cm (12 1/2 × 5 5/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
31906
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 18th-century Edo-period Japan with Katsukawa Shunsho's *The Actor Iwai Hanshiro IV as Agemaki in the Play Sakai-cho Soga Nendaiki*, created around 1771. Shunsho, a pioneering master of the ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") tradition and founder of the Katsukawa school, specialized in yakusha-e—dynamic portraits of kabuki actors. This color woodblock print captures the celebrated onnagata (female role specialist) Iwai Hanshiro IV in the role of Agemaki, a courtesan from the popular kabuki drama performed at the Nakamura Theater in the third month of 1771....