Kabuki Actors: Bando Mitsugorō and Iwai Hanshirō

ca. 1800

Not on view

Toyokuni employed various figure arrangements—a single actor, or two actors shown standing or from the waist up. Here, two actors occupy almost the entire sheet, which is rare in Toyokuni's theatrical prints. The actors, Bandō Mitsugorō in a male role and Iwai Hanshirō in a female role, stand close together under a large umbrella, dominating the small space. The rounded, almost drooping upper-right corners of the characters in the artist's signature suggest a date of about 1800, when the forms and lines of Toyokuni's images, in contrast, started to become a little more rigid.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Kabuki Actors: Bando Mitsugorō and Iwai Hanshirō
Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I (Japanese, 1769–1825)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: ca. 1800
Culture: Japan
Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: 15 1/8 x 10 1/4 in. (38.4 x 26 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Steel, 1960
Object Number: JP3391
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

By Utagawa Toyokuni I

In the same medium

A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.

The Fourth Month, Utagawa Toyokuni I Japanese, Two sheets of a triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper, Japan — The Fourth Month
Utagawa Toyokuni I
ca. 1801

Forty-seven Ronins

Utagawa Toyokuni I

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.