Shunshō Katsukawa (; 1726 – 19 January 1793) was a Japanese painter and printmaker in the ''

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

'' style, and the leading artist of the

Katsukawa school The Katsukawa school (勝川派, ''-ha'') was a school of Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' art, founded by Miyagawa Shunsui. It specialized in paintings (''nikuhitsu-ga'') and prints of kabuki actors (''yakusha-e''), sumo wrestlers, and beautiful women (''bij ...

. Shunshō studied under Miyagawa Shunsui, son and student of

Miyagawa Chōshun Miyagawa Chōshun (; 1683 – 18 December 1753) was a Japanese painter in the ukiyo-e style. Founder of the Miyagawa school, he and his pupils are among the few ukiyo-e artists to have never created woodblock prints. He was born in Miy ...

, both equally famous and talented ukiyo-e artists. Shunshō is best known for introducing a new form of ''

yakusha-e ''Yakusha-e'' (役者絵), often referred to as "actor prints" in English, are Japanese woodblock prints or, rarely, paintings, of kabuki actors, particularly those done in the ''ukiyo-e'' style popular through the Edo period (1603–1867) and i ...

'', prints depicting

Kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

actors. However, his ''

bijin-ga is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women () in Japanese art, especially in woodblock printing of the ukiyo-e genre. Definition defines as a picture that simply "emphasizes the beauty of women", and the ''Shincho Encyclopedia of W ...

'' (images of beautiful women) paintings, while less famous, are said by some scholars to be "the best in the second half of the

8th Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

/nowiki> century".Paine, Robert Treat and

Alexander Soper Alexander Coburn Soper III (February 18, 1904 – January 13, 1993) was an American art historian who specialized in Asian art. He was a longtime editor of the journal ''Artibus Asiae'' and professor at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York Unive ...

(1955). ''The Art and Architecture of Japan''. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 263.

Biography

Shunshō first came to

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

to study

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

and painting. He became a noted printmaker of actors with his first works dating from 1760. Though originally a member of the

Torii school The Torii school (鳥居派, ''-ha'') was a school of ''ukiyo-e'' painting and printing founded in Edo. The primary producers of kabuki theater signboards and other promotional materials, the Torii were among those whose work led to the developme ...

, he soon broke away and began his own style, which would later be dubbed the Katsukawa school. Among his students were the famous ukiyo-e artists Shunchō, Shun'ei, and

Hokusai , known mononymously as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. His woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'' includes the iconic print ''The Gr ...

. Most of Shunshō's actor prints are in the ''hoso-e'' () format common at the time, but he created a great number of works in triptych or pentaptych sets. However, what truly set his work apart from that of earlier artists was the depiction of large portrait-style heads and the insides of actors' dressing rooms. He was also one of the first to pioneer realistic depictions of actors; in Shunshō's prints, unlike in the works of the Torii school, it was possible for the first time to distinguish not only the theatrical role, but also the actor portraying that role. Shunshō also made use often of the long and narrow ''hashira-e'' format. Though he painted many revered paintings of ''

bijin is a Japanese term which literally means "a beautiful person" and is synonymous with . Girls are usually called , while men are known as and boys are . The term originally derives from the Middle Chinese word (; modern Standard Chinese ), an ...

'', he produced very few prints depicting them. ''Seirō Bijin Awase Sugata Kagami'' (青楼美人合姿鏡), "A Mirror Reflecting the Forms of Fair Women of the Green-Houses"), a printed book on which he collaborated with

Kitao Shigemasa was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist from Edo. He was one of the leading printmakers of his day, but his works have been slightly obscure. He is noted for images of beautiful women ('' bijinga''). He was taught by Shigenaga and has been referred to as ...

, is one of the only printed works containing ''bijin-ga'' by Shunshō. His paintings not only depicted elegantly painted women and fashions, but great attention is also paid to the landscape elements and architecture of the backgrounds. Though his prints belie a strong fascination with the theatre world, his paintings suggest the complete opposite.

Names

Originally Katsumiyagawa Yūsuke, "Katsukawa Shunshō" is one of many

art-name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin Chinese), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by artists, poets and writers in the Sinosp ...

s (''gō'') taken on by the artist during his life. Others include Jūgasei, Ririn, Yūji, Kyokurōsei, and Rokurokuan.Frédéric, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia". Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Prior to signing his works with one of these ''gō'', he used a stamp in the shape of a gourd surrounding the character ''mori'' (森), meaning "forest"。

References

External links

Grove Art DictionaryFAMSFShunshō in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, BostonBridge of dreams: the Mary Griggs Burke collection of Japanese art
a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this artist (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Katsukawa, Shunsho 1726 births 1792 deaths 18th-century Japanese artists Katsukawa school Ukiyo-e artists