<b>ACTOR </b> / Katsukawa Shunko1780s<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

Katsukawa Shunkô, whose family name was Kiyokawa and given name Denjirô, was a student of Katsukawa Shunshô (possibly the first). His earliest known work was the illustrated book Kaomise Shibai Banashi (Talks About Debut Plays) in 1766, and his first single-sheet print might have been a hosoban (narrow print) for the play Wada Sakamori Osame no Mitsugumi (Wada's Carousal: Last Drink with a Set of Three Cups) in 2/1771. From then on, he produced actor prints almost exclusively, although he was also an important designer of sumô-wrestler prints (at least fifty are known). Otherwise, Shunkô’s oeuvre included a few warrior prints (musha-e) and depictions of beautiful women (bijin-ga), among them mixed-theme images such as young women with actors or sumo wrestlers.

The year 1780 was significant not only for Shunkô's career but also for the evolution of Ukiyo-e. In the eleventh lunar month, he produced his first single-sheet ôkubi-e in the intermediate aiban format, the type of "large head," close-up, bust portrait that would prove to be one of the notable achievements in Japanese printmaking. Around this time, his teacher Shunsho also designed a half-length portrait in the larger oban format of Ichikawa Danjurô V as Kudo Suketsune, and earlier, starting in 1775, half-length portraits within fan-shapes on double-aiban sheets. Thus, together, teacher and student established the ôkubi-e as a significant mode of Ukiyo-e actor portraiture.

Moreover, Shunkô produced a remarkable series of at least seventeen ôkubi-e in oban format in 1788 and 1789, further setting in motion the widespread production of actor-portrait okubi-e by other artists, including Katsukawa Shun'ei, Katsukawa Shun'en, Toshusai Sharaku, Utagawa Toyokuni I, and Utagawa Kunimasa beginning in the 1790s.

Sadly, Shunkô suffered a stroke in early 1790 (possibly in the third month) that deprived him of the use of his right arm. Nevertheless, he continued to supply print publishers with sketches brushed with his left hand for a few years. Finally, he gave up designing prints, probably no later than 1796 and turned exclusively to painting with his left hand.

Connoisseur's Note

The Actor and Performance:

Ichikawa Yaozô III (1747–1818) made his first stage appearance while still a young teenager in the spring of 1760 under the name Sawamura Kinpei I. It was not until the eleventh lunar month of 1779 after he became a disciple of the superstar actor Ichikawa Danjurô V that he was given the name Ichikawa Yaozô III. He was considered a talented actor who happened to be trained by very different masters, such as Segawa Kikunojô II, the best Edo onnagata (performer of female roles), and the prestigious Ichikawa Danjurô V, a specialist in aragoto (energetic or “rough business” roles). Yaozô was considered at his finest when performing in leading roles that featured wajitsu (“gentle truth”), a blend of styles called wagoto (gentle-style roles), and jitsugoto (wise and righteous male roles).

Katsukawa Prints

There has been some speculation that early Katsukawa full-color prints without publisher seals might have been privately commissioned and distributed rather than sold commercially.

Roger Keyes (Ainsworth collection catalog, 1984, p. 102) proposed that either the actors themselves or the owners of theater-connected teahouses might have sponsored such prints. Other possibilities included prints commissioned by theater managers or actor fan clubs.

What is certain is that many of these hosoban sheets are exceedingly rare. Many, if not virtually all, were once parts of polyptychs, but it seems that even when they were first released for sale in the late18th century, kabuki fans were often most interested in acquiring single-sheet portraits of their favorite actors, and printsellers obliged by breaking up multi-sheet compositions. Of course, many polyptychs sold intact have since been divided up for various reasons over more than two centuries of ownership and distribution. Thus, today, one typically finds orphaned Katsukawa-school hosoban prints rather than complete polyptychs.

This fine full-length actor portrait by Shunkô is beautifully preserved with colors very close to their original states and the sheet clean and fresh. With examples such as this, collectors may discover the aesthetic intentions of the artist who provided the sketch and the artisans who carved and printed the images.

Written by John Fiorillo, ViewingJapanesePrints.net