Beauties and Actors

Katsukawa Shunshō

Ichikawa Danjūrō V as a Traveler beside a Clump of Iris

c. 1780

Color woodblock print, 29.9 × 14.4 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art

A star in a striped travel robe pauses by a bank of iris, sword at his hip.

• Shunshō led the actor-print field in his day and painted as well.
• The actor later took the name Ichikawa Ebizō IV.
• His Katsukawa studio began drawing actors as recognizable individuals.

Image: Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access · CC0