context: painting > prints > subjects

a Shunsho kabuki print

Kabuki

Another part of the floating world, this raucous theatre for the common person was a hugely popular subject. The most standard approach was to depict one or occasionally two star actors in famous roles, generally at very recogniseable (by the pose and/or props) key moments in the play. I think it's one of the richest and most interesting subject areas in ukiyo-e - perhaps because the extravagant theatricality encouraged or licensed the same in the design of artists like Shunsho, perhaps because the exaggerated emotion on display suited the fireburst of expressive caricaturing from Sharaku. Note also that this subject dominated the less revered print work produced beyond Edo, in Osaka and Kyoto, where softer styles of kabuki were more popular.

Another interesting point is that Shunsho's spectacular images were termed 'nigao' (likenesses) because they actually resembled, albeit in a highly stylised fashion, the actual actors - this was an unusual enough approach to be worth special note.

Kabuki had been launched by an all-female troupe, but eventually the government made it men-only - so the images of kabuki female roles are of male actors.

Note that although populist print-making wasn't regarded as the highest of the arts, some of its artists such as Harunobu felt that kabuki was beneath their notice, and wouldn't paint its stars at all.

Another parallel to modern times is irresistible here: these were pin-ups. Fans collected pictures of their favourite actors - it's not hard to see equivalency with some kinds of modern magazines.

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