Japanese Woodblock Print, 1928, published by Shozaburo Watanabe as part of the series Thirty-six Kabuki Actor Portraits

SIZE IN INCHES: dai-oban, 10.75 x 16 inches

COMMENTS: Thirty-six Kabuki Actor Portraits was sold by subscription only. The prints were lavishly made, and rate as Shunsens most coveted Okubi-e portraits. This print shows Kabuki actor Nakamura Kaisha. He is in the role of Okaru in the play "Yoigoshin".

NATORI SHUNSEN (1886-1960 was the uncontested master of kabuki actor portraits of the Shin Hanga art movement. He had started a career as an illustrator and freelance artist, who exhibited his paintings in Tokyo galleries until he was discovered by the print publisher Watanabe. In 1960 Natori Shunsen and his wife committed suicide at the grave of her daughter, who had died at the age of 22 of pneumonia. Natori Shunsen is regarded as the most important artist for the classical Kabuki subject in 20th century Japan.

VG, minor flaws