Segawa Kikunojo III as Oshizu, Wife of Tanabe Bunzo
Brooklyn Museum photograph
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The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.
The biography of the artist known as Toshusai Sharaku is one of Japanese art history’s greatest mysteries. Sharaku’s artistic career lasted only 10 months, from 1794 to 1795; during this time, he designed more than 140 woodblock prints, all portraits of Kabuki actors. We do not know where he came from or why he suddenly stopped designing prints.
Sharaku’s most celebrated portraits zoom in on the head and upper torsos of his subjects, set against a plain gray ground covered with powdered mica. These portraits capture not just the actors’ appearances and details of their costumes, but also their talent for facial expressions. This image depicts a famous onnagata, or male-born actor specializing in female roles. Here, he is playing the role of a sharp-tongued woman: her frowning brow and crooked smile capture her sarcasm. The slightly metallic mica background was likely designed to capture the gloom of backstage, but it also draws attention to the main figure.
Object Label
This print of the actor Segawa Kikunojo III is one of the most celebrated portraits of the onnagata (male actor in a female role) by the late eighteenth-century artist Toshusai Sharaku. It portrays a character in the Genroku era play Hanaayame Bunroku Soga (The Iris Saga of the Bunroku Era), a drama that retells the true story of the vengeance of ten brothers for their father's assassination in 1701. The play was performed at the Miyako-za theater in the city of Edo in May 1794.
The portrait is in the bust-length, close-up format known as okubi-e. Sharaku utilized this format to highlight the expressive talents of the performer and to document the role. The mica ground is a distinctive feature of Sharaku's portraits; the signature and publisher's seal were stamped over the mica following the printing.
Sharaku was active only from May 1794 to January 1795. He produced 140 actor prints in that period, after which he disappeared. No other works with this artist's signature are known. The mystery of his identity is still unsolved. One theory has proposed that Sharaku himself was an actor, but for the Noh form of theater.
Caption
Toshusai Sharaku Japanese, active 1794–1795. Segawa Kikunojo III as Oshizu, Wife of Tanabe Bunzo, May 1794. Color woodblock print on paper, 14 7/8 x 9 1/4 in. (37.8 x 23.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Frederic B. Pratt, 42.83. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.83_PS4.jpg)
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Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Segawa Kikunojo III as Oshizu, Wife of Tanabe Bunzo
Date
May 1794
Period
Edo period
Geography
Place made: Japan
Medium
Color woodblock print on paper
Classification
Dimensions
14 7/8 x 9 1/4 in. (37.8 x 23.5 cm)
Signatures
Toshusai Sharaku
Inscriptions
Dated "5/1794"
Credit Line
Gift of Frederic B. Pratt
Accession Number
42.83
Rights
No known copyright restrictions
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