The Actor Kakimura Kichisaburo as a Dancing Girl
ca. 1705
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
11 3/5 x 5 31/32 in. (29.5 x 15.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Francis Lathrop Collection, Purchase, Frederick C. Hewitt Fund, 1911
Accession Number
JP681
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of Edo-period Japan *The Actor Kakimura Kichaburo as a Dancing*, a captivating woodblock print by Torii Kiyonobu I, created around 1705. This intimate hosoban-format print (11 3/5 x 5 31/32 in.) showcases the kabuki actor in a graceful female role, frozen mid-dance with flowing robes and expressive poise. Kiyonobu, a founder of the Torii school, specialized in yakusha-e—dynamic portraits of theater stars that brought the stage to the streets. During Japan's Edo period (1615–1868), kabuki theater exploded in popularity, blending drama, music, and dance. Male actors ...
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...