The Actors Nakamura Nakazo I as Kagekiyo Dressed as a Beggar (right), and Otani Hiroji III as Onio Shinzaemon (left), in the Play Kotobuki Banzei Soga, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Third Month, 1783
Katsukawa Shunkо̄
c. 1783
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban
Dimensions
31 × 15 cm (12 3/16 × 5 7/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
32434
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...