Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) Vendetta at Hikosan: Nakamura Shikan IV as Keyamura Rokusuke, 1873. Oban.
Click here for a detailed enlargement.
The finest and the most sought-after of Kunichika’s prints are probably the two great series of okubi-e
(large head) actor portraits from 1869 and 1873. These are
extraordinary designs and unprecedented in their boldness and
abstraction. Surely deriving from the Osaka portrait and Kunisada’s late
and great series in their brevity and design, there are few other
comparable images in Edo ukiyo-e. Kunichika returned to this style only
once more in a small series of okubi-e in 1894.
This series of 22 similar full head portraits depicts actors from hit kabuki plays such as The Vendetta at Hikosan.
Kunichika draws the exaggerated, flattened heads of the actors so that
they fill, and in places exceed the confines of the decorative border.
The border itself illustrates the actor crests of the subject.
In this piece the drawing has to carry
all of the description and the interest of the drama; here we see
Nakamura Shikan IV in
the role of Keyamura Rokusuke. Rokusuke is a retired swordsman, driven
into hiding by Takumi who has also killed his master. In the play, the
children of the fencing master seek revenge upon Takumi and eventually
enlist the help of Rokusuke through a romance between him and his
master’s daughter Osono. Kunichika uses the tilt of the head and the
suspicious eyes to convey the covert role of Rokusuke, but the
down-turned mouth betrays the vengeance which is at the heart of the
drama.
Colour, impression and condition are all fine. Very slight trim to the decorative border.
This print is illustrated in Newland, Time Past and Time Present: Images of a Forgotten Master, Hotei Publishing 1999. Page 65.
Signed Toyohara Kunichika hitsu.
35cm x 24cm.
