Sawamura Sōjurō

Data

Sawamura Sōjurō
Print   (Part of the set: Masterpiece Ukiyo-e Collection - Part 1)

Utagawa Toyoharu
Takamizawa
1952

2019
00016-022
https://mokuhankan.com/collection/index.php?id_for_display=00016-022

Print is Public Domain; Photography is:   Creative Commons License

Description

While the index for this collection states that print 22 in the set (this print) is titled "Beauty After a Bath" (湯上り美人), this print appears to be unrelated (as you can probably tell!). Takamizawa must have run out of a couple of the prints in the set, and just put something else in for replacements... Maybe there was a note for the original purchaser, but if so, that has been lost...

In the print we see the kabuki actor Sawamura Sōjurō, identified by the hiragana "i" mon (crest) on his kimono.

Very light bokashi gradation can be seen at the edges of the kimono, mimicking the fading of older ukiyo-e that results from prolonged exposure to light. The orange pigment may have been hand-applied in this print.

Another Search

Rehearsal
Perspective View of Shin Yoshiwara