Portraits of the kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro IX, the sumo wrestler Kumagatake Shogoro and Taiso Yoshitoshi

Artist Yamazaki ,Toshinobu (Japanese, 1857–1886)

Date1878

Mediumwoodblock print; ink, color, embossing, and burnishing on paper

DimensionsOban: 35.9 × 24.2 cm (14 1/8 × 9 1/2 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineAlexander H. Bullock Fund

Terms

Object number2002.260

DescriptionFrom a series of celebrity figures, this print shows Yoshitoshi seated at his desk together with a contemporary sumo wrestler (right) and the actor Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (rear). Danjūrō was a known associate of Yoshitoshi, and the first owner of the painting Fujiwara no Yasumasa Playing the Flute by Moonlight, also in this exhibition. The figure of Yoshitoshi feeding a cat over his shoulder draws a direct visual parallel with his teacher Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861), who was usually depicted the same way. Yoshitoshi thus appears as part of a lineage of Edo period (1603–1868) arts, a community of cultural practitioners in various disciplines that went into rapid decline during Yoshitoshi’s lifetime.
Label TextFrom a series of celebrity figures, this print shows Yoshitoshi seated at his desk together with a contemporary sumo wrestler (right) and the actor Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (rear). Danjūrō was a known associate of Yoshitoshi, and the first owner of the painting Fujiwara no Yasumasa Playing the Flute by Moonlight, also in this exhibition. The figure of Yoshitoshi feeding a cat over his shoulder draws a direct visual parallel with his teacher Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861), who was usually depicted the same way. Yoshitoshi thus appears as part of a lineage of Edo period (1603–1868) arts, a community of cultural practitioners in various disciplines that went into rapid decline during Yoshitoshi’s lifetime.ProvenanceKatie and Scott McDonald, Rochester, NY

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