H Beard Print Collection

A kabuki actor in bold kumadori makeup—white face with red and black lines and a heavy black wig—kneels in profile, gripping a sword drawn diagonally across his body with both hands. He wears a heavily patterned costume combining a black-and-pale-blue geometric outer robe, a pink and gold hexagon-patterned under-robe, and a teal under-layer decorated with yellow bamboo leaves; a severed white hand lies on the ground at lower left. The background is a salmon-pink and orange latticed wall with black square insets, and a vertical cartouche with kanji text appears at upper left; the composition is in flat, bold color blocks typical of a woodblock print. Utagawa Toyokuni I, 1849.