Kabuki Actor Kataoka Nizaemon VII

Dated circa 1788–90 and held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this Katsukawa Shunkō print is one panel of a diptych depicting the kabuki actor Kataoka Nizaemon VII. The Kataoka acting family is one of the oldest and most distinguished kabuki lineages, with origins in the Kamigata (Kyoto-Osaka) theater world; Nizaemon was the principal stage name of the family's main line, and the seventh holder of the name was a major presence on the late-eighteenth-century stage. Diptych compositions allowed Shunkō to expand the visual scale of an actor portrait beyond what a single hosoban or ōban could accommodate, often pairing the lead actor on one sheet with a supporting actor or with the rest of the dramatic scene on the second. The late-1780s date places this work in the period when Shunkō was beginning to experiment with the bust-portrait format (ōkubi-e) that would transform the actor-print genre, and his draftsmanship here shows the increasing visual ambition of his late prime. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's example documents both Shunkō's continuing collaboration with the Kataoka family and the Edo print market's interest in Kamigata-trained actors who appeared at the Edo theaters.