勝川春好画 初代中村仲蔵|Kabuki Actor Nakamura Nakazō I
4th month, 1783
Medium
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
12 11/16 x 5 3/4 in. (32.2 x 14.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1918
Accession Number
JP296
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
This woodblock print by Katsukawa Shunkō captures the celebrated kabuki actor Nakamura Nakazō I in a striking single-figure portrait. Created in the fourth month of 1783 during Japan’s Edo period, the work belongs to the vibrant tradition of yakusha-e, or actor prints, which brought the excitement of the theater into everyday life. Shunkō, a leading artist of the Katsukawa school, specialized in dynamic depictions of performers, often highlighting their distinctive costumes, poses, and expressive faces. Printed in the full-color nishiki-e technique using ink and color on paper, the narrow ver...
About the Artist
Katsukawa Shunkō
Katsukawa Shunkō I (1743–1812) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who pioneered the ōkubi-e (large-head) portrait format in kabuki actor prints and served as possibly the first student of Katsukawa Shunshō, the founder of the influential Katsukawa school. Born in 1743, Shunkō spent his entire life in Edo (modern Tokyo), working as both a painter and ukiyo-e printmaker specializing in yakusha-e (actor p...