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Kabuki Actor with a Fan

Utagawa Kunisada

1820

ink

paper

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Romanticism Early 19th Century

Dominant colour

Kabuki Actor with a Fan is a 1820 ink by Utagawa Kunisada, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.

Who painted this?: Utagawa Kunisada
When & what style?: 1820 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: National Gallery of Art

About this work

This print shows a man in a dramatic pose, dressed in a dark robe covered in white dots and patterns. He holds a fan in one hand and looks upward with a serious expression. Behind him, bold black Japanese characters stand out against a simple background of bamboo and waves. The artist used woodblock printing, a method where blocks of wood are carved and inked to create repeated images. This technique was common in Japanese art during the 1800s. Next, look up technique: woodblock print to see how artists made prints like this.