print
- Museum number
- 1987,0316,0.438
- Title
- Object: Haiyu (Kabuki Actor)
- Description
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Colour woodblock print. Kabuki actor wearing blue-striped make-up of villainous parts in traditional popular Kabuki theatre. Made with five blocks of plywood faced with 'shina' and five printing stages on 'torinoko' paper. Pigments were German, except for white which was Japanese 'gofun' (shell-white). Powdered mica also used to heighten the white and black areas. Unlimited edition. Inscribed, signed, dated and sealed.
- Production date
- 1953
- Dimensions
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Height: 55.20 centimetres
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Width: 35.70 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Smith 1994
Shinagawa, who worked in a number of graphic techniques, became a member of Onchi Koshiro's Ichimoku-kai (First Thursday Society) which met from 1939 to 1950 as the core of the 'Sosaku Hanga' movement during the Pacific War and Occupation. The influence of Onchi was very much directed to simplification of forms, as in the later works of Azechi Umetaro, Yamaguchi Gen and Yoshida Masaji. This print shows the same tendencies, as well as similar influences from European art seen in Saito Kiyoshi (1958, 0208, 02; 1987, 0316, 0440). Like Saito, Shinagawa uses these models in combination with a very Japanese emphasis on the grain and texture of the woodblocks themselves.
According to Statler, 1956, no. 44, 'Kabuki Actor' was an unlimited edition.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1987
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1987,0316,0.438
