「二代目瀬川菊之丞図」|The Kabuki Actor Segawa Kikunojō II as a Woman Reading a Letter
ca. 1760s
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
H. 28 1/8 in. (71.4 cm); W. 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 1929
Accession Number
JP1568
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of Edo-period Japan with Torii Kiyomitsu's woodblock print, *The Kabuki Actor Segawaunojō II as a Woman Reading a Letter* (ca. 1760s). This intimate hosoban-format piece—narrow and tall at 28 1/8 x 4 3/8 inches—showcases the famed onnagata (female impersonator)awa Kikunojō II in a poignant moment of quiet drama, her elegant kimono and subtle expression drawing viewers into the theater's emotional depth. Kiyomitsu, a leading figure in the Torii school of ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world"), specialized in yakusha-e prints that immortalized Kabuki stars. Using...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyomitsu · 1735–1785
Torii Kiyomitsu (1735–1785) was a leading master of the Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print tradition and a key figure in the third generation of the celebrated Torii school. Born into an artistic dynasty founded by his ancestor Torii Kiyonobu, Kiyomitsu trained within the family workshop and inherited its deep connections to the Kabuki theater world, for which the Torii school had long designed prom...