Kabuki Actor Holding Wooden Plaque, Taishô period, circa 1920-1922
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Harvard Art Museums
$2,000–$15,000. Kabuki actor portraits are highly collectible. Good actor or bijin-ga prints: $5,000–$10,000. Key value factors: Yamamura's Art Deco-influenced designs are particularly sought after. Kabuki actor prints and bold modern compositions command the highest prices.
Dating to the early 1920s, this [oban](/glossary/oban) woodblock print shows an unidentified kabuki actor gripping a wooden plaque, possibly an ema (votive tablet) or a character-identifying prop. Wooden plaques appear in several kabuki scenarios, from temple scenes where characters make vows to confrontation scenes where written challenges are exchanged. Toyonari isolates the actor against a plain ground, directing attention to the hands clasping the plaque and the intensity of the facial expression. The composition is typical of his Taisho-period actor prints in its tight framing and avoidance of stage scenery. Without a specific actor or role identification, the print stands as an example of Toyonari's ability to convey dramatic tension through posture and props alone, making the plaque a focal point around which the character's emotion radiates.
1919
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Woodblock print
1920
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper with mica
1920
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper with nikawa and embossing
歌舞伎
Woodblock print
1955
Woodblock print
1928
Color lithograph
1930
Color lithograph
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Kabuki Actor Holding Wooden Plaque, Taishô period, circa 1920-1922 was created by Yamamura Toyonari (山村豊成).
Kabuki Actor Holding Wooden Plaque, Taishô period, circa 1920-1922 was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Kabuki Actor Holding Wooden Plaque, Taishô period, circa 1920-1922 depicts kabuki.