Oriental Masterprint – 17, from the series Oriental Masterprints
Roger Shimomura American
Not on view
Based on Tōshūsai Sharaku’s famous image of the Kabuki actor Ōtani Oniji III as Yakko Edobei (on display in the case at right), this image is cropped to place emphasis on the subject’s intense facial expression rather than his hands. Behind the abstracted latticework is the partly obscured figure of an onnagata (a male actor who performs women’s roles) playing a courtesan. The striped patterning evokes Edo fashion sensibilities but is a product of the artist’s own imagination, here combined with other elements derived from images of an ukiyo-e coloring book that he had found.
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