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
Kataoka Takao I as Fujiya Izaemonfront

© Tsuruya Kōkei

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Kataoka Takao I as Fujiya Izaemon

  • Description

    In this play, the young dandy Izaemon is in love with a beautiful courtesan. However, he has spent so much time and money in the Osaka pleasure district that he is disinherited by his family. Here he can be seen wearing nothing but a thin paper kimono stitched together from love letters.

    The papery effect of the kimono is enhanced by the very thin paper that Kōkei uses. This paper, known as ganpi, is difficult to work with, but its translucent quality creates a powerful tension with the strong lines of his images and the pigments he uses.

  • Details

    show all
    Series
    Bust Portraits XI
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    1996
    Artist/maker
    Tsuruya Kōkei (born 1946) (designer)
    Associated people
    Kataoka Takao I (born 1944) (subject)
    Material and technique
    woodblock on ganpi paper
    Dimensions
    print 37.4 x 22.3 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    printed › relief print › woodcut › colour woodcut
    Object type index
    visual representation › print
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Philip Harris, 2011.
    Accession no.
    EA2011.2

Glossary

kimono

  • kimono

    Kimonos, or 'the thing worn' in Japanese, had seasonal designs. The style of kimonos would change four times a year, and winter kimonos would be padded.

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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