- Museum number
- 1988,1215,0.2
- Description
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Painting, section from handscroll, mounted on board. Roundel portraits of Ichikawa Omezo I (right) and Sawamura Sojuro II (left). Ink and colour on paper. Inscribed.
- Production date
- 1789-1790 (c.)
- Dimensions
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Height: 18.50 centimetres
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Width: 42.10 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Clark 1992
Portraits of five leading Kabuki actors in characteristic roles are painted in round windows and identified either by their acting name, 'haiku' poetry name ('haimyo'), or 'trade' name ('yago'), or all three. Based on their known dates of activity and assuming that the portraits were done during their lifetimes, it is possible to date the paintings to either 1789 or 1790.
The actors' names, roles and dates -where significant - are: Ichikawa Danjuro V ('haimyo' Goi) as Matsuomaru, possibly in the performance at the Kiri theatre in the seventh month, 1788 (ADD 882); Ichikawa Omezo I ('haimyo' Shinsha; used the name Omezo I from 1789 onwards); Sawamura Sojuro II ('haimyo' Nosshi; 'yago' Kinokuniya; died 1770) (ADD 883); Yamashita Kinsaku II ('haimyo' Riko; 'yago' Tennojiya); Nakamura Nakazo I as Sadakuro ('haimyo' Shukaku; died 1790) (ADD 884). Sawamura Sojuro is marked 'father' ('chichi'), clearly identifying him as the second generation to use the name, who died in 1770 and was the father of the actor who was the incumbent in 1789-90. No other actor is indicated as being deceased or of another generation in this way, suggesting that the paintings were indeed done after Omezo I's adoption of that name in 1789 and before Nakazo I's death in 1790.
Attention should be drawn to the marked similarity of the portrait of Danjuro V to a full-length painting by Katsukawa Shunko of the same actor in the same role of Matsuomaru in the Freer Gallery of Art (Stern 1973, no. 68; 'us', vol. 16 (1981), no. 41), now thought to be related to a performance at the Kiri theatre in the seventh month, 1788. It was just at this time, too, that Shunko was designing his revolutionary woodblock-print bust portraits of actors. Roger Keyes has identified seventeen of these, which he dates between the eleventh month, 1788, and the eleventh month, 1789 (see his comments in 'us', vol. 13 (1981), no. 67). Shortly after this - Keyes suggests around the third month, 1790 - Shunko fell victim to a paralysis that affected his right hand and all paintings thereafter were done with the left hand in a quite different style. The present paintings are simply and spontaneously executed and yet have that surety of line that does not suggest they are copies, and they may be tentatively attributed to Shunko, or another Katsukawa pupil working closely with him.
Portraits of actors in round windows are rare, but there is a slightly later handscroll of such subjects by Utagawa Kunimasa in the collection of the Japan Ukiyo-e Museum Matsumoto 1985, nos 248-51). It is suggested that the present paintings were intended as studies for a more finished handscroll of this type, perhaps on silk. In general paintings of actors seem to have been put to much more practical, ephemeral uses than those of beauties -such as theatre signboards and fans with actors' inscriptions - which helps to explain their comparative rarity.
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Asahi 1996
あたり役に扮した5人の人気役者の似顔絵を円窓の中に描いたもの。役者名か俳名か屋号、もしくはその3つ全部が書き込まれている。5人の役者の活動期がわかり、作品が生存中に描かれたものと考えられることから、制作時期は寛政元年または寛政2年と思われる。
五人の名前、役、制作時期に関わる年を記す。四 [ママ] 代目市川団十郎（俳名五粒）。役は松王丸で、天明8年（1788）7月桐座の演目によるものであろう。初代市川男女蔵（俳名新車、寛政元年より男女蔵を名乗る）。二代目沢村宗十郎（俳名訥子、屋号紀伊國屋、明和7年•1770没）。二代目山下金作（俳名里虹、屋号天王寺屋）。初代中村仲蔵（俳名秀鶴、寛政2年没）。沢村宗十郎には「父」と記して、名前を次いだ息子とはっきりと区別している。二代目沢村宗十郎は明和7年に没しており、寛政元年から寛政2年に活動していた三代目沢村宗十郎の父にあたる。他の役者について故人であるとか代替わりしているとかの記述はないので、本作品は初代市川男女蔵が男女蔵を名乗るようになった寛政元年から初代中村仲蔵が没する寛政2年までに描かれたと考えられる。
勝川春好筆「四[ママ] 代目市川団十郎の松王丸」（フリーア美術館）（Stern, Harold P. ‘Ukiyo-e painting’ Washington DC, Freer Gallery of Art, 1973 no. 68[.] 『浮世絵聚花』第16巻 1981年 小学館 41図）と図1は同じ役者が同じ役に扮したところを全身像で描いたものであるが、大変よく似ていることが注目される。現在ではフリーア美術館本も天明8年7月桐座の演目と関連づけられている。ちょうど同じころ春好は浮世絵版画でも斬新な役者の大首絵を描いていた。ロジャー•キーズは春好の役者大首絵17点が天明8年11月から寛政元年11月の演目によるとした（『浮世絵聚花』第13巻 1981年 小学館 67図のロジャー•キーズによる解説）。その直後、キーズによれば寛政2年3月頃、春好は中風のため右手が麻痺して動かなくなる。その後の作品は左手で描かれるが、著しく作風が異なる。本作品は明確で伸びやかに描かれ、描線も確かなもので写しとは思われない。春好の作品、または春好に近い弟子の作品と考えられそうである。
円窓に描かれた役者絵はあまり作例のないものであるが、これよりやや遅れて歌川国政の同様の作品が日本浮世絵博物館にある（『日本浮世絵博物館 肉筆浮世絵撰集』1985年 学習研究社 248-51図）。本作品はおそらく絹本の画巻のための習作であったと思われる。劇場の看板や役者が賛をした扇子を思い起こせばわかるように、役者絵はたいていの場合美人画に比べて実用的で寿命が短いものであった。それゆえに役者絵のほうが美人画より写実的なのであろう。
（伊藤紫織（千葉市美術館））
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Hizo Nihon bijutsu taikan Vol 3
This unusual work is made up of portraits of kabuki actors active in Edo during the Meiwa (1764-72), An'ei (1772-81), and Tenmei (1781-89) eras, done in the 'nigao-e' (facial likeness) manner. No other examples of this kind of work are known, nor are the motives for its production; possibly it was commissioned by a kabuki enthusiast who specified his favorite actors, or possibly the work represents the final versions of preliminary pictures for a work due to be printed and published. Either way, the accuracy of the fine lines of the hair and the care devoted to the colouring qualify it to be regarded as a finished work in its own right. There is no artist's signature, but it was undoubtedly done by a member of the Katsukawa school - most likely Shunko.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1988
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1988,1215,0.2
- Additional IDs
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Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.Add.883 (Japanese Painting Additional Number)
