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Photo: Susan Cole
The Actor Segawa Michinosuke in a Female Role
Photo: Susan Cole

The Actor Segawa Michinosuke in a Female Role

Date1804
Maker Utagawa Kunihisa Japanese, active early 19th century
Label TextIn this work, celebrated onnagata Segawa Michinosuke assumes the role of a so-called "castle-toppler," a euphemism for a courtesan whose beauty was so great it could bring down empires. The back view emphasizes the full brilliance of the actor's stunning plum-colored kimono, shrugged off both shoulders and fanned out at the hem, artfully arranged for full dramatic effect.
Object number2014.32.7
Provenance[Peter Gilder, Arts and Designs of Japan, San Francisco, California]; purchased from gallery by Allan Kollar, Seattle, Washington, 1989; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2014
Photo CreditPhoto: Susan Cole
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, SAM at 75: Building a Collection for Seattle, May 5 - Sept. 9, 2007. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Fleeting Beauty: Japanese Woodblock Prints, Apr. 1 - July 4, 2010. Text by Catherine Roche. Cat. no. 40, reproduced p. 63. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Renegade Edo: Japanese Prints and Toulouse-Lautrec, July 21 - Dec. 3, 2023. Text by Xiaojin Wu. No cat. no., pp. 50, 101, reproduced pl. 19.
Credit LineGift of Mary and Allan Kollar, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
DimensionsFramed: 14 1/2 x 10 in. (36.8 x 25.4 cm)
MediumWoodblock print; ink and color on paper
Photo: Colleen Kollar Zorn
Utagawa Toyokuni
ca. 1800-05
Object number: 2014.32.8
Two actors in the roles of Nakai Manno and Fukuoka Mitsugo
Utagawa Kunisada II
May 1852
Object number: 98.53.62
Kabuki actor in the role of Courtesan reading a letter
Utagawa Kunisada II
March 1854
Object number: 98.53.63
Photo: Scott Leen
Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)
ca. 1850
Object number: 53.136
First print in Triptych
Utagawa Kuniaki
ca. 1860-70
Object number: 2001.20
Photo: Colleen Kollar Zorn
Ippitsusai Bunchō
1780s
Object number: 2013.31.9
Photo: Colleen Kollar Zorn
Katsukawa Shunkō
1780-85
Object number: 2013.31.8
Photo: Colleen Kollar Zorn
Katsukawa Shunshō
ca. 1780s
Object number: 2013.31.7
Photo: Susan Cole
Hosoda Eisui
1800
Object number: 2014.32.3
Photo: Scott Leen
Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)
1834
Object number: 85.220