Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
The Actors Nakajima Wadaemon as Bōdara Chōzaemon and Nakamura Konozō as Gon of the Kanagawaya Boathouse
Tōshūsai Sharaku Japanese
Not on view
This dynamic double-bust portrait against a dark gray mica background provides a study in contrasting personality types. The scowling character on the right, known derisively as the “Dried Codfish” Bōdara Chōzaemon and played by Nakajima Wadaemon, is shown dressing down the “Homeless Boatman” Gon, played by Nakamura Konozō. The scene comes from A Medley of Tales of Revenge (Katakiuchi noriai-banashi), a play staged at the Kiri Theater in Edo in the fifth month of 1794, when the artist produced many of his “large-head portraits” (ōkubi-e). Tōshūsai Sharaku was producing prints for three different theaters simultaneously—testimony not only to the popularity of his designs at the time but also to the power of his publisher, Tsutaya Jūzaburō.
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