The Actor Iwai Hanshiro IV as Lady Yaehata in the Play Sanga no Sho Haru no Hanayome, Performed at the Kiri Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1787
c. 1787
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban; left sheet of diptych
Dimensions
31.8 × 14.4 cm (12 1/2 × 5 11/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
22228
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of Edo-period Japan this exquisite color woodblock print by Katsukawa Shunkō a master of *yakusha-e*—portraits of kabuki actors. Titled *The Actor Iwai Hanshiro as Lady Yaehata in the Play Sanga Sho Haru no Hanome*, it captures the star performer in the role of a graceful lady during a 1787 production at the Kiri Theater. Created around that year, this *hosoban* (narrow-format) sheet, measuring just 31.8 × 14.4 cm, forms the left half of a diptych, inviting viewers to imagine its counterpart for a fuller scene. Shunkō, a leading figure in the Katsukawa school, exce...
About the Artist
Katsukawa Shunkо̄ · 1743–1812
Katsukawa Shunkō I (1743–1812), born Denjiro Kiyokawa in Edo (modern Tokyo), emerged as a pivotal figure in ukiyo-e woodblock printing. His early life remains sparsely documented, but by the late 1760s, he had begun illustrating books such as *Talks about Debut Plays* (*Kaomise shibai banashi*, 1766). Shunkō studied under the master Katsukawa Shunshō, founder and leader of the Katsukawa school, an...