1794, Tōshūsai Sharaku, The Actor Sakata Hangorõ Ill as Fujikawa Mizuemon in the Play "Hana ayame Bunroku Soga," Miyako Theater -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label:
During his brief but active ten-month career, Tōshūsai Sharaku created around 150 designs for woodblock prints, almost exclusively featuring Kabuki actors. This print is from a set of twenty-eight large, close-up portraits depicting men who performed at Edo's three leading theaters.
Unlike his contemporaries, who idealized their subjects, Sharaku's stylized portraits bordered on caricature. They are bold, expressive, and charged with emotional intensity, seen here in the actor's angled eyebrows, crossed eyes, emphatic frown, and jutting chin. The artist achieved the shimmering background, a distinct feature of all the portraits in this series, by adding mica, a soft mineral that flakes easily, to the wet ink.
1794, Tōshūsai Sharaku, The Actor Sakata Hangorõ Ill as Fujikawa Mizuemon in the Play "Hana ayame Bunroku Soga," Miyako Theater -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label:
During his brief but active ten-month career, Tōshūsai Sharaku created around 150 designs for woodblock prints, almost exclusively featuring Kabuki actors. This print is from a set of twenty-eight large, close-up portraits depicting men who performed at Edo's three leading theaters.
Unlike his contemporaries, who idealized their subjects, Sharaku's stylized portraits bordered on caricature. They are bold, expressive, and charged with emotional intensity, seen here in the actor's angled eyebrows, crossed eyes, emphatic frown, and jutting chin. The artist achieved the shimmering background, a distinct feature of all the portraits in this series, by adding mica, a soft mineral that flakes easily, to the wet ink.