The Oiran Hanagiku Reading a Love Letter While Standing
Ippitsusai Bunchō
ca. 1769
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
11 3/5 x 5 1/2 in. (29.5 x 14 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Frank Lloyd Wright, 1918
Accession Number
JP470
Tags
WomenReading
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...