Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
The Actors Segawa Kikunojō III as Okiku, Nakayama Tomisaburō as Kasane, and Sawamura Sōjūrō III as Yoemon
Katsukawa Shun'ei 勝川春英 Japanese
Not on view
Along with Shunkō (whose work is on the right), Shun’ei was an outstanding member of the Katsukawa school, which specialized in actor prints. The Katsukawa artists established a sophisticated set of visual codes for each individual based on actual facial features, though simplified and abstracted, to create “likeness portraits” (nigao-e). Through familiarity with these conventions, as well as hints provided by crests on costumes, Kabuki fans could easily identify their favorite actors.
Here, a scene from the play The Darkness of Love: Jealous Revenge in the Fifth Month (Koi no yami Satsuki no uwanari) includes Segawa Kikunojō III (1751–1810), on the right in the role of an old woman. He ranks as one of the three greatest onnagata, male actors who played women’s roles, in the history of Edo-period Kabuki.
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