Description
Katsukawa Shunshō sets Segawa Kikunojō III’s female-role portrait within the curved outline of a fan. The actor’s upper body wears a patterned robe beneath an ornate coiffure, while calligraphy occupies the space to one side. The rounded boundary gathers face, costume and writing into an intimate design, giving the theatrical image a different shape from a conventional rectangular portrait.
Made around 1775, the design was produced in ink and color on paper. The fan association matters to the image’s presentation without proving how any particular surviving sheet was used. Shunshō’s work allows a named actor to be encountered through an object linked to everyday handling and display. Its interest lies in that change of scale and context: a public performer becomes the subject of a design intended for a more personal visual encounter.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Katsukawa Shunshō collection.
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