三代目沢村宗十郎と遊女|The Kabuki Actor Sawamura Sōjūrō III and Courtesans
ca. 1783–84
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
14 7/8 x 10 in. (37.8 x 25.4 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
JP2611
Tags
Art Historical Context
This woodblock print by Torii Kiyonaga captures a lively moment from Edo-period Japan’s vibrant entertainment culture. Created around 1783–84, it portrays the celebrated kabuki actor Sawamura Sōjūrō III alongside courtesans, likely set within an intimate interior featuring folding screens. Kiyonaga, a leading ukiyo-e artist of the Torii school, specialized in such scenes that blended theatrical drama with the refined world of pleasure districts, reflecting the “floating world” interests of urban audiences. As a color woodblock print on paper, the work exemplifies the technical sophistication ...
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...