The Third Segawa Kikunojo as a Woman Dancing in a Shosa Act

Description

Segawa Kikunojō III portrays a woman dancing with an umbrella, bringing movement and a carried object into the same theatrical encounter. The umbrella participates in the figure’s presentation rather than serving merely as a background detail. Katsukawa Shunshō connects a named actor to a female role, allowing the dance to give that assumed identity a particular visual life.

Katsukawa Shunshō’s color woodblock print is tentatively dated around 1785. Its ink-and-color medium gives a moving performance a lasting visual form, holding something that would otherwise pass within the theater. The image’s appeal lies in this meeting of actor, character and dance, where the act of portraying another person becomes the portrait’s central subject.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Katsukawa Shunshō collection.