11Story

22 January 2010

Arachi Kichisaburo II

 

Arachi Kichisaburo II [Rikan I]. Shunkosai Hokushu (fl. 1810-1832). Osaka, circa 1821 Photograph. Original colour woodblock print, inscribed, signed, sealed. 26.45 x 17.5 cm © Trustees of the British Museum 2003, 0123, 0.2

This bust portrait of kabuki actor Arashi Kichisaburo II, showing him reflected in a mirror and surrounded by wigs and hats from his famous roles, distinguishes visually between person and role, much as for the audience in kabuki theatre actor and part remain conceptually distinct through stylised characterisation.    The positioning of the mirror in this print not only exposes the actor to the viewer and to himself but mimics the device, shown in three prints in the ‘Mind’ section of the exhibition, of a rectangle, upper right or left, to frame an object of thought, longing or memory.   If the suggestion here is that the actor’s reflected face is an object of his own imagination, or that the actor himself is imagined by his audience (or the viewer of the print itself), the idea fits neatly with the theatrical theme.

 
 
 

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