Page 57 - September 21 2021 Important Japanese Art Christie's NYC

31 TOSHUSAI SHARAKU (ACT. 1794-95)

The actor Arashi Ryuzo II as the
Moneylender Ishibe Kinkichi

Woodblock print with silver mica ground,
signed Toshusai Sharaku ga, published by
Tsutaya Juzaburo (Koshodo), 5th month 1794
Vertical oban: 14¡ x 9º in. (36.5 x 23.5 cm.)

$20,000-30,000

The subject of ongoing debate; neither the true name, nor
PROVENANCE:
the dates of birth and death of the artist Toshusai Sharaku
Raymond A. Bidwell (1876-1954), Springfield,
are known. This elusive artist's active career under this name
Massachusetts spanned a mere ten months and his dynamic portraits of actors
were imbued with a realism unusual at the time. However, his
EXHIBITED: work has come to be considered some of the most important of
“Ukiyo-e from The Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, the entire ukiyo-e genre.
MA”, exh. cat. p. 54, no. 92, exhibited at the following The play Hana-ayame Bunroku Soga was a popular vendetta
venues: play in which the Soga brothers set out to avenge their father's
Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo, 4 June-3 July, 1994 murder. This print shows the actor Arashi Ryuzo playing the
Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo role of the mean-spirited money lender Ishibe Kinkichi, his face
Prefecture, 16 July-21 August, 1994 with intense expression.
Yokkaichi Municipal Museum, Mie Prefecture, 1 September-4 Another impression in the collection of The British Museum
October, 1994 (1909,0618,0.47).