Woodblock print from an album of 50 sheets. Actor Onoe Masazo.
| Support Type: | Paper |
| Paint Type: | Ink |
| Current Location: | the British museum under the number 1915,0823,0.552. |
| Location History: | The print was previously registered under the British Library, It was associated with an album identified as Album.30. On 23 August 1915, the object was transferred to the museum. The print is now registered under the museum number 1915,0823,0.552, within the Department of Asia. |
It is a Japanese woodblock print depicting the Kabuki actor Onoe Masazo. It is attributed to Katsukawa Shunsho, one of the most consequential Japanese print artists of the eighteenth century. He became particularly celebrated for his actor prints, helping to transform the way kabuki performers were represented in popular visual culture. Rather than treating actors as interchangeable figures identified principally through costume and theatrical gesture, he increasingly sought to convey their distinctive facial characteristics and personalities. His interest in facial resemblance was central to this transformation. Rather than simply reproducing the conventional appearance of a theatrical character, he sought to make the actor recognisable as an individual. The theatres of Edo were not merely places where people watched performances. They were centres of social interaction, fashion, celebrity culture and commercial exchange. Kabuki acting relied upon stylised gestures, choreographed movements and moments of heightened dramatic expression. A sword dance would have required the performer to communicate character and dramatic intensity through controlled bodily movements. The relationship between theatre and printmaking was mutually beneficial. A successful theatrical production could generate demand for images of its performers, while prints helped sustain the popularity of actors between performances. They functioned simultaneously as souvenirs, collectibles and visula records of theatrical culture.