#88 Scene from Act VII
- Date:
- c. 1935
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
$1,500–$10,000. Common prints: $1,500–$3,000. Key value factors: Settai's literary elegance and refined technique have a niche but devoted following among collectors of Japanese aestheticism.
Illustrating a scene from Act VII of a multi-act theatrical work, this oban woodblock print from around 1935 shows Komura Settai's talent for distilling dramatic narrative into a single, carefully composed image. Settai spent years producing illustrations for literary journals and deluxe book editions, and that experience shaped his approach to theatrical subjects, where a single frame must convey character, emotion, and narrative tension. The print uses bold outlines and restrained color to focus attention on the figures and their gestures. Settai's theater prints stand apart from his bijin-ga work, trading sensuous elegance for a more angular, tension-filled compositional language suited to dramatic storytelling.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
#88 Scene from Act VII was created by Komura Settai (小村雪岱) in c. 1935.
#88 Scene from Act VII was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (c. 1935).
#88 Scene from Act VII depicts figures and kabuki.
