Description
Face turned over his right shoulder, the actor Osagawa Tsuneyo II furrows his thick brows. Dressed in the role of Osan–an identification still hotly debated by scholars–the actor delicately grasps the green fabric of his outer kimono as it slides off his shoulder, revealing three encircled flowers. This crest identifies this famous onnagata, or male actor specializing in female roles. The bright peach of Osagawa’s kimono is striking–typically, impressions of this shade fade to the palest hint of peach. Set against a dark grey mica, the actor’s under kimono echoes its shimmer in pearl mica. Sharaku’s oeuvre numbers approximately 140 works, mostly kabuki actors, marked by satire, unfaltering wit, and an interest in the individual. Sharaku and Utamaro are together credited with the rise of psychological portraiture in ukiyo-e: Sharaku in the realm of the theatrical, Utamaro in genre of beautiful women.
Other impressions of this print can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, British Museum, Harvard Art Museum, Tokyo National Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and Ritsumeikan University.
About the artist
Sharaku Toshusai was a pivotal and enigmatic ukiyo-e master of the late 18th century. Very little is known about Sharaku’s life aside from the fact that he worked in Edo in the 1890s. While theories abound - from a noh actor visiting Edo from Osaka to a pseudonym for a poet or even another ukiyo-e artist - his identity remains mysterious. Between May 1794 and February 1795, Sharaku produced around 140 known designs, primarily depicting stars of the kabuki stage, as well as some sumo imagery. Though brief, his ten-month career marked a significant shift within the actor print genre (yakusha-e). Known as “likeness pictures (nigao-e)”, Sharaku’s prints moved away from idealized representations to increasingly individualized portraiture. As he incorporated the distinctive physiognomy of beloved actors with strikingly expressive portraiture, Sharaku invited the viewer to consider not just the role or play, but the actor in his own right. Sharaku’s work was radical and proved controversial among audiences of his time. A renewed international interest in ukiyo-e at the turn of the 20th century sparked a reevaluation of Sharaku’s woodblock prints and earned him the exceptional reputation he holds today. Together with Utamaro Kitagawa, the 18th-century master of bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women), Sharaku is often credited with the introduction of psychological portraiture to ukiyo-e.