Shunkosai Hokushu (active circa 1810-32)
Actor Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan) as Yakanbei from the series Contest of Fans of Today (Uchiwa tosei kurabe), 1824
Woodblock print, embellished with metallic pigments
Signed: Shunkosai Hokushu ga (Pictured by Shunkosai Hokushu)
Hand-impressed artist's seal: 'Shun'
Publisher: Toshikuraya Shinbei
Date: 1824, 5th month
Signed: Shunkosai Hokushu ga (Pictured by Shunkosai Hokushu)
Hand-impressed artist's seal: 'Shun'
Publisher: Toshikuraya Shinbei
Date: 1824, 5th month
Vertical oban:
38.4 x 25.4 cm. (15 ⅛ x 10 in.)
38.4 x 25.4 cm. (15 ⅛ x 10 in.)
Very good impression and colour, some trimming, light album backing, light creasing and minor soiling.
£ 1,200.00
From a set of four 'summer-fan' (uchiwa) portraits of actors in fans. Here, Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan) is depicted in the role of Yakanbei in the play 'Ashiya Doman Ouchi...
From a set of four 'summer-fan' (uchiwa) portraits of actors in fans. Here, Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan) is depicted in the role of Yakanbei in the play 'Ashiya Doman Ouchi kagami' performed at the Kita Orie Theatre in 1824, his body covered with bright red makeup.
For another impression of this design in The British Museum, museum no. 2003,0823,0.2, go to: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_2003-0823-0-2
For the two other designs from the series in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, go to:
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/456176
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/456177
Dr. Gerhard Pulverer is a German medical researcher who worked at the University of Cologne. He bought his first Japanese woodblock prints in Kyoto in the 1970s while visiting Japan for a scientific conference. For more than thirty years, he and his wife Rosemarie travelled the world assembling a large collection woodblock prints and Japanese illustrated books (ehon). In forming the collection, he drew on the advice of highly regarded experts including Jack Hillier, C.H. Mitchell, Tim Clark and Ellis Tinios.
In 2007 the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC purchased the illustrated book collection. It is today regarded as one of the most outstanding and comprehensive collections of Japanese illustrated books outside Japan.
For an insightful interview with the collector by Ellis Tinios (on behalf of the Smithsonian National Museum of Art), go to: https://pulverer.si.edu/node/186
For another impression of this design in The British Museum, museum no. 2003,0823,0.2, go to: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_2003-0823-0-2
For the two other designs from the series in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, go to:
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/456176
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/456177
Dr. Gerhard Pulverer is a German medical researcher who worked at the University of Cologne. He bought his first Japanese woodblock prints in Kyoto in the 1970s while visiting Japan for a scientific conference. For more than thirty years, he and his wife Rosemarie travelled the world assembling a large collection woodblock prints and Japanese illustrated books (ehon). In forming the collection, he drew on the advice of highly regarded experts including Jack Hillier, C.H. Mitchell, Tim Clark and Ellis Tinios.
In 2007 the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC purchased the illustrated book collection. It is today regarded as one of the most outstanding and comprehensive collections of Japanese illustrated books outside Japan.
For an insightful interview with the collector by Ellis Tinios (on behalf of the Smithsonian National Museum of Art), go to: https://pulverer.si.edu/node/186