Kabuki Actor Looking Down, 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.
Produced in the early 1920s, this [oban](/glossary/oban) woodblock print captures a kabuki actor with downcast eyes, suggesting a moment of reflection, grief, or resignation within a dramatic scene. The downward gaze is a powerful theatrical device in kabuki, signaling interior emotion without the broad physicality of mie poses. Toyonari's rendering emphasizes the heaviness of the eyelids and the slight bow of the head, using minimal lines to carry maximum emotional weight. The composition strips away stage context, presenting the actor's upper body and face in isolation. This introspective quality distinguishes the print from Toyonari's more dynamic warrior-role portraits. The downward look creates a meditative stillness that invites the viewer to read the psychological state of the character rather than identify a specific dramatic moment.
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 Looking Down, Taishô period, circa 1920-1922 was created by Yamamura Toyonari (山村豊成).
Kabuki Actor Looking Down, Taishô period, circa 1920-1922 was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Kabuki Actor Looking Down, Taishô period, circa 1920-1922 depicts kabuki.