The Actor Bando Mitsugoro as a Man in Sumptuous Raiment, Standing in a Field, Mount Fuji in the Background

Description

Two actors share this displayed diptych beneath an immense Mount Fuji centered behind them. Bandō Mitsugorō appears at the left, while a female-role figure in a flat straw hat occupies the right. Katsukawa Shunshō makes richly presented figures and mountain part of a shared landscape encounter, joining theatrical identity to a setting larger than either actor alone.

The color woodblock work dates to around 1778 and is catalogued as a diptych, made in ink and color on paper. That format should be distinguished from any single panel presented on its own. The image allows actor and setting to remain its central relationship without turning a landscape association into an unsupported account of a specific dramatic plot.

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