Usaemon

Dated 1920 and produced at the end of Iacovleff's Far Eastern mission, this sanguine portrait depicts an actor of the Ichimura Uzaemon line, most probably the celebrated Ichimura Uzaemon XV (1874-1945), who was during these years the leading wagoto (gentle young hero) specialist of the Tokyo kabuki stage and the principal star of the Ichimura-za. Uzaemon XV was renowned for his handsome, refined-romantic onstage presence and his command of the male-lover roles in the standard sewamono (domestic plays) repertoire, including Sukeroku, Yosaburō in Yowa Nasake Ukina no Yokogushi and Jihei in Shinjū Ten no Amijima. Iacovleff worked from life backstage during the autumn 1919 season and dated the finished drawing the following year, possibly during his stay in Shanghai before his transfer to Paris. The sheet shows the actor in head-and-shoulders view with the elaborate front-tied wig and stage make-up of one of his wagoto roles, the handling typical of Iacovleff's Japanese cycle — a precisely drawn linear contour of the features and hair, with broad sanguine modelling of the cheeks and neck. The portrait is among the strongest of Iacovleff's depictions of male kabuki actors and demonstrates the close attention he paid to the great Tokyo stars of his time.