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The Actor Ōtani Hiroji II as Kazusa no Shichirō Kagekiyo

Dateca. 1750

Maker Torii Kiyomitsu Japanese, 1735-1785

Label TextThe Torii school originated the format of single-sheet actor prints, whose style could be subtly decorative or boldly expressive. The latter approach, for which the school is most renowned, captured the rough manner of acting made famous by the flamboyant Edo superstar Ichikawa Danjuro. The majority of Kiyomitsu's single-sheet prints were benizuri-e, an early form of color print in which two or three separate blocks of color were printed in addition to the ink-outline block. Developed in the 1740s, this mode of printing was supplanted by the invention of full-color printing in 1765.

Object number2011.40.7

Provenance[Sotheby’s, London, Japanese Works of Art, Prints & Paintings, Nov. 9, 2006, sale no. L06861, lot no. 718, reproduced p. 13]; purchased at auction by Allan Kollar, Seattle, Washington, 2006; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2011

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Fleeting Beauty: Japanese Woodblock Prints, Apr. 1 - July 4, 2010. Text by Catherine Roche. Cat. no. 7, reproduced p. 30. 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. 53, 101, reproduced pl. 22.

Credit LineGift of Mary and Allan Kollar

DimensionsSheet size: 12 x 5 5/8 in. (30.5 x 14.3 cm)

MediumWoodblock print; ink and color on paper