About This Print
The one print was contributed by the fifteen-year-old Torii Kotondo to the first issue of the short-lived 1915 magazine Shin Nigao whose purpose was to advertise the Kabuki theater and renew interest in actor prints. This print pictures the actor Onoe Kikugorō VI (1885-1949) playing the role of Sukeroku in the play of the same name performed at the Ichimura-za in April 1915. Why the young Kotondo did not contribute additional prints is unknown, but during the same period he was creating illustrations for theater magazine Engei gahō 演藝畫報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.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #2175 |
| Title | [Onoe] Kikugorō [in the role] of Sukeroku 菊五郎 助六 (as titled on print and as printed in the table of contents of issue 1) |
| Series | Magazine: Shin Nigao (New Portraits) volume one 新似顔 第一年初編 |
| Artist | Torii Kotondo (1900-1976) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | none |
| 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 - light overall toning |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Genre | shin hanga (new prints); nigao-e |
| Format | koban |
| H x W Paper | 7 1/4 x 4 13/16 in. (18.4 x 12.2 cm) |
| H x W Image | 6 3/8 x 4 1/8 in. (16.2 x 10.5 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 | |
8/5/2020 created
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