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The Actors Ichikawa Danzo IV and Iwai Kumesaburo I as Kawagoshi Taro Shigeyori and Sato no Kimi in Yoshitsune sembon zakura, Nakamura Theater, from a series of Double Portraits of Actors

The Actors Ichikawa Danzo IV and Iwai Kumesaburo I as Kawagoshi Taro Shigeyori and Sato no Kimi in Yoshitsune sembon zakura, Nakamura Theater, from a series of Double Portraits of Actors

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Utagawa Toyokuni

This color woodcut depicts kabuki actors, a popular subject in Japanese prints during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Often commissioned by kabuki theatres to promote their productions, depictions of actors usually show them playing particular characters. Only male performers were allowed on the stage, so some actors specialized in playing female roles. As seen here, the actor portraying a female character wears a small cloth high on their forehead to hide the shaved area of the top knot hairstyle traditionally worn by Japanese men.
Artist
Utagawa Toyokuni
(Japanese, 1769 - 1825)
Title
The Actors Ichikawa Danzo IV and Iwai Kumesaburo I as Kawagoshi Taro Shigeyori and Sato no Kimi in Yoshitsune sembon zakura, Nakamura Theater, from a series of Double Portraits of Actors
Date
5/1800
Medium
Color woodcut
Dimensions
389 x 255 mm Overall
Credit
Bequest of John H. Van Vleck
Accession No.
1980.3168
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. 55
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "The Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints." Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1990. p. 328

  • Japanese Masterworks: Woodblock Prints from the Chazen Museum of Art Collection: Chazen Museum of Art, 5/6/2016–8/14/2016
  • Utagawa: Masters of the Japanese Print, 1770-1900 : Chazen Museum of Art, 3/21/2008–6/15/2008
  • Floating World: Japanese Prints from the Van Vleck Collection, The: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 4/21/2001–6/17/2001
  • Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints, The: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 10/7/1990–11/25/1990
  • Calm Lives, Exuberant Pleasures : Outstanding Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Van Vleck Collection: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 3/31/1984–4/15/1984

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