The Actor Nakamura Tomijuro as a Woman Wearing a Red Cape
Ippitsusai Bunchō
ca. 1772
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
H. 11 3/4 in. (29.8 cm); W. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1925
Accession Number
JP1460
Tags
WomenMenActors
About the Artist
Ippitsusai Bunchō · 1730–1820
Ippitsusai Bunchō (active c. 1765–1792) stands as one of the pivotal figures in the development of ukiyo-e actor portraiture, a artist whose innovations fundamentally transformed how kabuki actors were depicted in Japanese woodblock prints. Working during what scholars often call the 'golden age of ukiyo-e,' Bunchō, along with his contemporary Katsukawa Shunshō, revolutionized the yakusha-e (actor...