Ichikawa Ebijūrō II as Horiguchi Manzaemon from the Kabuki Play "Eight Views of the Kizu River by Boating Song"

1829

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Romanticism Early 19th Century Cityscape

Dominant colour

Ichikawa Ebijūrō II as Horiguchi Manzaemon from the Kabuki Play "Eight Views of the Kizu River by Boating Song" is a 1829 by Shunshosai Hokuchō, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Shunshosai Hokuchō
When & what style?: 1829 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This painting shows a Kabuki actor, Ichikawa Ebijūrō II, in a dramatic role. The actor was known for playing villains, and this was one of his last performances. He got sick and died a few months later, which makes this image even more interesting. You can learn more about Japanese art like this by looking up the museum: The Cleveland Museum of Art.

The story of this work

Overview

Three prints form a continuous scene from a Kabuki play written in 1778 by Namiki Gohei I (1747–1808) and produced at the Kado Theater in Osaka in the summer of 1829. It was the final performance for actor Ichikawa Ebijūrō II (1806–1829; right)—highly regarded for portraying villains—because he got sick and died several months later. This design belongs to a category of Japanese prints called “actor images” ( yakusha - e or 役者絵). They were collected by fans of popular Kabuki actors. Kabuki is a kind of entertainment that got its start in the early Edo period, evolving from dance performances…

Read the full account in the museum source.