四代目松本幸四郎とその家庭|The Kabuki Actor Matsumoto Kōshirō IV
ca. 1783
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
15 1/4 x 10 1/2 in. (38.7 x 26.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936
Accession Number
JP2610
Tags
Art Historical Context
This elegant woodblock print Torii Kiyonaga captures the celebrated kabuki actor Matsumoto Kōshirō IV alongside members of his family in a relaxed domestic scene. Created around 1783 during Japan’s Edo period, the work exemplifies the refined full-color printing techniques that flourished in the late eighteenth century. Kiyonaga a master of the Torii school, specialized in actor portraits, yet here he moves beyond the stage to present the performer in a more personal light, surrounded by women and accoutrements such as folding fans that hint at both status and daily life. Ukiyo-e prints like ...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonaga · 1752–1815
Torii Kiyonaga, born Sekiguchi Shinsuke in 1752 in Uraga, Sagami Province, was the son of an Edo bookseller who owned tenements near a bustling fish market. At age 14 in 1765, he began his apprenticeship under Torii Kiyomitsu, the third-generation head of the prestigious Torii school of ukiyo-e, renowned for kabuki theater illustrations and signage. Adopted into the Torii family, Kiyonaga succeede...