The Actor Nakamura Nakazo I as Ippei (?) in the Play Koi Nyobo Somewake Tazuna (?), Performed at the Ichimura Theater (?) in the Eighth Month, 1778 (?)
Katsukawa Shunkо̄
c. 1778
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban; right sheet of diptych
Dimensions
32.7 × 15 cm (12 7/8 × 5 7/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
36421
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...