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Actor Iwai Hanshirō IV as the Wet Nurse Shigenoi
image overall
image overall

Actor Iwai Hanshirō IV as the Wet Nurse Shigenoi

Original Language Title四代岩井半四郎の乳母重の井
Artist Toshusai Sharaku (Japanese, active 1794 - 1795)
Date1794
MediumColor woodblock print on mica ground; oban
DimensionsImage: 14 7/8 × 10 13/16 inches (37.78 × 27.46 cm)
Mat: 25 × 18 1/2 inches (63.5 × 46.99 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number32-143/157
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DescriptionThis print was published in the fifth month in Kansei 6 (1794).Gallery Label
Tōshūsai Sharaku abruptly quit making bust-length portraits of Kabuki actors less than a year after his debut in 1794. One theory of his sudden disappearance during the height of actor portrait popularity is that his style emphasized the actors’ physical features in a caricature-like manner. His unflattering portraits might have negatively impacted the way an actor was perceived as a character while on stage. For example, the image of Iwai Hanshirō IV in the middle captures the actor’s masculine traits like his thick neck and pronounced jaw. However, he is supposed to be portraying a woman with a slim body and soft facial features, a beauty trend valued in late 1790s Japan.
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