Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Yakusha-e: Kabuki Prints, a Continuing Tradition

(from 29th Nov 2011 until 4th Mar 2012)

Discover the brightly coloured woodblock prints of actors from Japanese popular theatre.

Detail of The actor Nakamura Shikan IV as the fisherman Fukashichi, Tōkyō, 1869 (Museum No: EA1971.2
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Ichikawa Monnosuke VIII as Omon of the Jūmonjiya

  • Description

    Tsuruya Kōkei’s prints evoke the works of earlier ukiyo-e artists, such as Kunisada and Kunichika (as you can see elsewhere in this exhibition), but they are particularly indebted to the actor portraits of the great eighteenth century print designer Tōshūsai Sharaku (active 1794 - 1795). Sharaku’s strikingly intense half-length actor portraits, often with highly exaggerated facial features, emphasized the individual personalities and idiosyncracies of the leading kabuki actors of his day. Kōkei’s yakusha-e continue this tradition but are not mere copies. Instead they embody a contemporary sense of irony and an element of caricature.

  • Details

    Series
    Bust Portraits XI
    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    1996
    Artist/maker
    Tsuruya Kōkei (born 1946) (printmaker)
    Associated people
    Ichikawa Monnosuke VIII (born 1959) (subject)
    Kabukiza Theatre (established 1889) (commissioner)
    Material and technique
    woodblock on ganpi paper
    Dimensions
    print 37.5 x 22.5 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Philip Harris, 2008.
    Accession no.
    EA2008.1

Glossary

ukiyo-e

  • ukiyo-e

    Ukiyo-e, or ‘Pictures of the Floating World’, depicted leading courtesans, kabuki actors, and others from the urban pleasure districts, in popular woodblock prints and paintings.

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Notice

Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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