Theatrical Scene, with Musicians
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
15 x 9 13/16 in. (38.1 x 24.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Gift of Mrs. J. Watson Webb, 1930
Accession Number
JP2399
Tags
Art Historical Context
Torii Kiyonaga's *Theatrical Scene, Musicians* is a woodblock print from Japan's Edo period (16151868), a time when ukiyo-e art flourished, celebrating the "floating world" of urban pleasures like theater and music. This intimate work, measuring 15 x 9 13/16 inches, uses ink and color on paper vividly evoke a kabuki performance, featuring actors, musicians, men, and women amid traditional instruments. As a master of the Tor school, Kiyonaga specialized in yakusha-e (actor prints), blending graceful figures with dynamic poses to immortalize the drama of the stage. The print's artistic techniqu...
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...