The Actors Iwai Kumesaburo I and Ichikawa Komazo III as Soga no Ninomiya and Izu no Jiro, from an untitled series of double portraits of actors

The Actors Iwai Kumesaburo I and Ichikawa Komazo III as Soga no Ninomiya and Izu no Jiro, from an untitled series of double portraits of actors

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Utagawa Toyokuni

This print shows the actors playing roles from one of the many theatrical variations based on the vendetta story Tale of the Soga Brothers. The young actors Iwai Kumesaburo I and Ichikawa Komazo III were two rising stars on the Edo kabuki stage. The design includes a distinctive black gradation in the upper half of the background with the script printed in white relief. Toyokuni includes the common compositional device of using a prop—in this case a bolt of cloth—to visually connect the two figures.
Artist
Utagawa Toyokuni
(Japanese, 1769 - 1825)
Title
The Actors Iwai Kumesaburo I and Ichikawa Komazo III as Soga no Ninomiya and Izu no Jiro, from an untitled series of double portraits of actors
Date
1800
Medium
Color woodcut
Dimensions
257 x 382 mm Overall
Credit
Bequest of John H. Van Vleck
Accession No.
1980.3165
Classification
Prints
Geography
Japan

Related

By 1925, purchased in Japan by Frank Lloyd Wright; ca. 1926, acquired by The Bank of Wisconsin; 1928, sold to Edward Burr Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 1943, passed through inheritance to Edward’s son, John H. Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 9 January 1980, bequeathed by John H. Van Vleck to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Mueller, Laura. "Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School." Leiden, The Netherlands: Hotei Publishing, 2007. p. 95, no. 56
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "The Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints." Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1990. p. 328

  • Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School: Chazen Museum of Art, 11/3/2007–1/6/2008

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