The Actor Sawamura Kunitarō I (Kitô) in a Female Role, from the series Sequel to the Picture Book of Fans from the Stage

Folding fans have long been used in both Chinese and Japanese Kabuki theater as an extension of the actors’ bodies, to enhance their gestures. The expandable surface also created multiple planes of visual focus for actors to interact with. Since fans were such prominent stage props, print artists were inspired to combine depictions of them with portraits of actors. Here, the shape of the fan frames a half-length portrait of an actor who also holds a fan. The interplay of paper and fan surfaces and the frame-within-a-frame device is a shared feature of both Japanese and Chinese woodblock prints. This framing technique was often used on narrative images to demonstrate theatricality and performativity, so it is most appropriate in its use in an actor’s portrait. - Chi-Lynn Lin, "Echoing Overseas" label text, Fall 2022