About This Print
One of 30 prints (including 2 cover prints and 2 frontispieces) designed by Natori Shunsen that appeared in the magazine Shin Nigao, whose purpose was to advertise the Kabuki theater and renew interest in actor prints. Included in the first issue of the magazine, published in June 1915, this print pictures the actor Nakamura Utaemon V 五代 中村歌右衛門 in the role of the courtesan Agemaki in the play Sukeroku performed in April 1915 at the Kabuki-za.
For more information on this short-lived magazine whose purpose was to advertise the Kabuki theater and renew interest in actor prints, see the article Shin Nigao Magazine.
For more information on the actor Nakamura Utaemon V see the article The Kabuki Actor.
Natori Shunsen Catalogue Raisonné Entry
歌右衛門の揚巻 [Utaemon as Agemaki]
Catalogue Raisonné – Ukiyoe Kabuki Gi Han Ga: Shunsen Natori
(The Skill of Natori Shunsen in Kabuki Prints),
Kushigata Municipal Shunsen Museum
Kushigata, Japan; 1991, p.92, pl. 166.
Kushigata, Japan; 1991, p.92, pl. 166.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #1965 |
| Title (Description) | [Nakamura] Utaemon [V] in the role of Agemaki 歌右衛門の揚巻 Utaemon no Agemaki |
| Series | Magazine: Shin Nigao (New Portraits) volume one 新似顔 第一年初編 |
| Catalogue Raisonné | Number 166 |
| Artist | Natori Shunsen (1886-1960) |
| Signature | not signed on the print. The table of contents for issue 1 lists the artist as Mr. Natori Shunsen 名取春仙 氏 |
| Seal | not sealed |
| Date | June 1915 |
| Edition | First and only edition printed in magazine Shin Nigao |
| Publisher | Nigaodō 似顔洞 |
| Carver | Igami Bonkotsu (1875-1933) |
| Printer | Nakamura Sanjirō 中村三次郎 |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - overall toning |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Genre | shin hanga (new prints); nigao-e |
| Format | koban |
| H x W Paper | 7 1/4 x 4 7/8 in. (18.4 x 12.4 cm) |
| H x W Image | 6 3/8 x 4 3/16 in. (16.2 x 10.6 cm) |
| Collections This Print | The British Museum 1991,1112,0.193.1 (entire magazine, only front cover shown); Art Research Center Ritsumeikan University BM-SJ193-01 (British Museum's copy of entire magazine with all pages shown) |
| Reference Literature | Catalogue Raisonné – Ukiyoe Kabuki Gi Han Ga: Shunsen Natori (The Skill of Natori Shunsen in Kabuki Prints), Kushigata Municipal Shunsen Museum, Kushigata, Japan, 1991, p.92 number 166. |
7/30/2020
11/18/2018
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