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[Portraits of actors, often playing roles] – Vintage Wall Art

[Portraits of actors, often playing roles], [between 1860 and 1866 (seal date: 1860.7)] — historic print
[Portraits of actors, often playing roles], [between 1860 and 1866 (seal date: 1860.7)]. Historic print from the Japanese Prints collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: [Portraits of actors, often playing roles], preserved in this historic print. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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[Portraits of actors, often playing roles]

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Twenty sheets mounted on a single scroll set this group apart from most actor portraits, and they bring together three designers who each drew the kabuki actor Nakamura Shikan in his stage roles. Toyohara Kunichika, a pupil of Utagawa Toyokuni (Kunisada), supplied the largest share, with Toyokuni himself and Utagawa Kuniaki contributing the rest. A seal dates the set to 1860, when actor prints like these circulated as souvenirs and advertisements for popular performers, and the brocade printing, with its rich color and fine detail, was typical of the period.

Created / published[between 1860 and 1866 (seal date: 1860.7)]
Medium20 prints (mounted on scroll) : woodcut, color.
Genreorganized by the Library of Congress, 2001.
NotesTitle and other information based on entry in exhibition catalog. Artists include Utagawa Toyokuni (also known as Utagawa Kunisada) (sheets 8-10, 14-16, 20); Toyohara Kunichika (sheets 1, 2, 4, 5, 11-13, 17-19); and Utagawa Kuniaki (sheets 3, 6). Artist for sheet 7 not yet identified. Nishike-e (brocade) print. Ōban size. Forms part of: Japanese prints and drawings (Library of Congress). Four sheets (7, 9, 13, and 20) Published in: The Floating world of Ukiyo-e ... / essays by Sandy Kita .... New York ..., 2001, no. 109, pp. 174-75. Exhibited: The Floating world of Ukiyo-e: shadows
SubjectsShikan, Nakamura,--1831-1899. Actors--Japanese--1850-1870.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan4,579 × 3,674 px · prints to 15 × 12 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-222074

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