Actor Onoe Matsunosuke IV as Nozarashi Chobei, from the series Collection of Portraits by Shunsen

Natori Shunsen

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

The twentieth-century artist Natori Shunsen brought a new degree of realism to the old tradition of Kabuki portraiture. Unlike his predecessors, whose prints advertised the latest productions and targeted theater fans, Shunsen often portrayed actors in past roles and produced and marketed his prints more deliberately as works of art. Shunsen was part of a revival movement, called shin-hanga (“new prints”), which promoted traditional methods of color woodblock printing for representation of more modern subjects and styles. The actor portrayed here was trained in Kabuki but made the transition to film, where he pioneered the ninja movie genre and became Japan’s first movie star.

Caption

Natori Shunsen (Japanese, 1886–1960). Actor Onoe Matsunosuke IV as Nozarashi Chobei, from the series Collection of Portraits by Shunsen, 1925. Woodblock color print, 15 x 10 1/4 in. (38.1 x 26 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Carll H. de Silver Fund, 68.35.14. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

Asian Art

Title

Actor Onoe Matsunosuke IV as Nozarashi Chobei, from the series Collection of Portraits by Shunsen

Date

1925

Period

Taisho Period

Geography

Place made: Japan

Medium

Woodblock color print

Classification

Print

Dimensions

15 x 10 1/4 in. (38.1 x 26 cm)

Signatures

Shunsen ga 春仙画

Credit Line

Carll H. de Silver Fund

Accession Number

68.35.14

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