鳥居忠雅画　七代目市川団十郎の曽我五郎|The Actor Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Soga Gorō

Torii Tadamasa

1940 · Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban · Asian Art

Recognized as the greatest actor of the nineteenth century, Danjūrō VII is depicted as Soga Gorō, one of the most popular roles of the Kabuki stage, who carries out revenge with his brother for the murder of his father. This design was created in the modern era, at a time when Japan was at war, and neither ukiyo-e prints nor Kabuki were as popular as they had been in previous eras. Tadamasa, who had studied under Torii Kiyotada (1875–1941), one of the last of the traditional actor-print artists, drew on the history of Kabuki’s heyday during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Artist

Torii Tadamasa

Date

1940

Medium

Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of H. J. Isaacson, 1948