Perspective View of the Interior of the Nakamura Theater

The Floating World Takes Shape

Okumura Masanobu

Perspective View of the Interior of the Nakamura Theater

1740

Hand-colored woodblock print, 40.2 × 63.7 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art

A packed kabuki house seen from the rear, with Ichikawa Ebizō II on stage as Yanone Gorō.

  • A runway crossed the seats; many patrons stayed all day, eating and calling out praise.
  • Its hand-brushed palette keeps to yellow, red and red-brown.
  • Probably the first printmaker to use Western one-point perspective, a novelty for buyers.

Image: Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access · CC0

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