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Lot Essay
This compelling image captures a tense moment, as the actor Ichikawa Komazo III embodies the villainous character Shiga Daishichi, poised to assassinate Matsushita Mikinoshin. The drama 'Katakiuchi noriyai banashi' (A Medley of Tales of Revenge), written by Sakurada Jisuke, revolves around the vengeance pursued by two sisters, Miyagino and Shinobu, for the murder of their father, Matsushita Mikinoshin, at the hands of Shiga Daishichi. Sharaku's masterful use of minimal color and a dark mica background intensifies the fierce depiction of Daishichi by the actor Komazo III, immortalized here by Sharaku. Notably, Komazo succeeded Matsumoto Koshiro V in 1801 and rose to become the preeminent actor of 1834.
The rich, dark mica ground indicates a luxury production overseen by the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo, a visionary behind numerous great artists of the late eighteenth century, including Utamaro, Choki, Kitao Masanobu, and Kiyonaga. The seal of a cluster of ivy below Mount Fuji in the lower left corner of the image symbolizes Tsutaya's establishment, known as the House of the Ivy. Tsutaya actively participated in poetic endeavors alongside other sophisticates in the Yoshiwara Circle under the name Tsuta no Karamaru, denoting 'Entwined in the Ivy.'
The collaboration between Tsutaya and Sharaku spanned ten months in 1794, resulting in twenty-eight close-up portraits of actors characterized by remarkable boldness and creativity. They are close-ups in the modern sense, using a raised eyebrow, a furrowed brow, simple gesture to snap the scene. Debate continues on whether the existence of so few of the actor portrait is because they were unpopular for their frankness or whether Tsutaya found their production too expensive. The poet-calligrapher Ota Nanpo (1749-1823) wrote about Sharaku in his book Ukiyoe Ruiko (commentaries and biographies of ukiyo-e artists), "He depicted actors all too realistically, exactly as they were, and as a result, he did not remain active for long, stopping after a couple of years." Sharaku's exaggerated depiction of actor’s facial expressions captured attention, but it did not become as popular as idealized actor portraits by other artists, as Tsutaya Juzaburo had anticipated." Asano Shugo also proposed a theory that Tsutaya only released small editions on account of their fine printing, coloring and embellishments in the manner of deluxe commissions of surimono and poetry albums.
Among the various theories proposing the true identity of the mysterious Sharaku, the most compelling theory suggests that Sharaku was the Noh actor Saito Jurobei (1763-1820), originally from the Awa clan. In addition to this portrait of actor Ichikawa Komazo III as Shiga Daishichi, Sharaku also created six other portraits featuring characters from the same drama. These include Matsushita Mikinoshin and his daughters, Miyagino and Shinobu, as well as Sakanaya Gorobei, Uguisu no Jirosaku, Bodara Chozaemon, and Gon, the boat-keeper (Fig. 1-6.)
The rich, dark mica ground indicates a luxury production overseen by the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo, a visionary behind numerous great artists of the late eighteenth century, including Utamaro, Choki, Kitao Masanobu, and Kiyonaga. The seal of a cluster of ivy below Mount Fuji in the lower left corner of the image symbolizes Tsutaya's establishment, known as the House of the Ivy. Tsutaya actively participated in poetic endeavors alongside other sophisticates in the Yoshiwara Circle under the name Tsuta no Karamaru, denoting 'Entwined in the Ivy.'
The collaboration between Tsutaya and Sharaku spanned ten months in 1794, resulting in twenty-eight close-up portraits of actors characterized by remarkable boldness and creativity. They are close-ups in the modern sense, using a raised eyebrow, a furrowed brow, simple gesture to snap the scene. Debate continues on whether the existence of so few of the actor portrait is because they were unpopular for their frankness or whether Tsutaya found their production too expensive. The poet-calligrapher Ota Nanpo (1749-1823) wrote about Sharaku in his book Ukiyoe Ruiko (commentaries and biographies of ukiyo-e artists), "He depicted actors all too realistically, exactly as they were, and as a result, he did not remain active for long, stopping after a couple of years." Sharaku's exaggerated depiction of actor’s facial expressions captured attention, but it did not become as popular as idealized actor portraits by other artists, as Tsutaya Juzaburo had anticipated." Asano Shugo also proposed a theory that Tsutaya only released small editions on account of their fine printing, coloring and embellishments in the manner of deluxe commissions of surimono and poetry albums.
Among the various theories proposing the true identity of the mysterious Sharaku, the most compelling theory suggests that Sharaku was the Noh actor Saito Jurobei (1763-1820), originally from the Awa clan. In addition to this portrait of actor Ichikawa Komazo III as Shiga Daishichi, Sharaku also created six other portraits featuring characters from the same drama. These include Matsushita Mikinoshin and his daughters, Miyagino and Shinobu, as well as Sakanaya Gorobei, Uguisu no Jirosaku, Bodara Chozaemon, and Gon, the boat-keeper (Fig. 1-6.)