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Katsukawa Shunshō - Wrestlers Kajigahama Rikiemon of the Eastern Group and Sekinoto Hachirōji of the Edo tea, with the Umpire Kimura Shōnosuke

Wrestlers Kajigahama Rikiemon of the Eastern Group and Sekinoto Hachirōji of the Edo tea, with the Umpire Kimura Shōnosuke (1785)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)
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Why is this image in the public domain?
The Artist died in 1792 so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries where the copyright term is the Artist's life plus 70 years or fewer.
About the Artist

Katsukawa Shunshō was a Japanese painter and printmaker in the ukiyo-e style, and the leading artist of the Katsukawa school. Shunshō studied under Miyagawa Shunsui, son and student of Miyagawa Chōshun, both equally famous and talented ukiyo-e artists. Shunshō is most well known for introducing a new form of yakusha-e, prints depicting Kabuki actors. However, his bijin-ga (images of beautiful women) paintings, while less famous, are said by some scholars[who?] to be "the best in the second half of the [18th] century".

Shunshō first came to Edo to study haiku and painting. He became a noted printmaker of actors with his first works dating from 1760. Though originally a member of the Torii school, he soon broke away and began his own style, which would later be dubbed the Katsukawa school. Among his students were the famous ukiyo-e artists Shunchō, Shun'ei, and Hokusai.

Most of Shunshō's actor prints are in the hoso-e (33 × 15 centimetres (13.0 × 5.9 in)) format common at the time, but he created a great number of works in triptych or pentaptych sets. The depiction of large portrait-style heads and the insides of actors' dressing rooms is what truly set his work apart from that of earlier artists, however. He was also one of the first to pioneer realistic depictions of actors; in Shunshō's prints, unlike in the works of the Torii school, it was possible for the first time to distinguish not only the theatrical role, but also the actor portraying that role. Shunshō also made use often of the long and narrow hashira-e format.

Though he painted many revered paintings of bijin, he produced very few prints depicting the same. Seirō Bijin Awase Sugata Kagami (青楼美人合姿鏡), "A Mirror Reflecting the Forms of Fair Women of the Green-Houses"), a printed book on which he collaborated with Kitao Shigemasa, is one of the only printed works containing bijin-ga by Shunshō. His paintings not only depicted elegantly painted women and fashions, but great attention is also paid to the landscape elements and architecture of the backgrounds. Though his prints belie a strong fascination with the theatre world, his paintings suggest the complete opposite.

More Artwork by Katsukawa Shunshō (View all 48 Artworks)

Segawa Kikunojo II as the Referee of a Wrestling Match (c. late 1770s)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

Actors Nakamura Nakazo I and Yamashita Kinsaku II (ca. 1771)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

Ichikawa Yaozo II as a Otokodate Standing by a Bench (c. 1780)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

Interior Scene (c. 1746-92)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

Onoe Matsusuke as a Townsman in a Striped Robe (c. 1780)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

The Syllable ‘Fu’ (circa 1766)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

The Syllable ‘Ma’ (circa 1772-1773)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

The Armor-pulling Scene from the Tale of the Sōga Brothers (late 1760s)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

More Artwork by Katsukawa Shunshō (View all 48 Artworks)

Segawa Kikunojo II as the Referee of a Wrestling Match (c. late 1770s)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

Actors Nakamura Nakazo I and Yamashita Kinsaku II (ca. 1771)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

Ichikawa Yaozo II as a Otokodate Standing by a Bench (c. 1780)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

Interior Scene (c. 1746-92)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

Onoe Matsusuke as a Townsman in a Striped Robe (c. 1780)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)

The Syllable ‘Fu’ (circa 1766)

Katsukawa Shunshō (Japanese, 1726-1792)
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