Accession Number
1960/1.146

Title
Memorial Portrait of Ichikawa Danjūrō VI

Artist(s)
Utagawa Kunimasa

Artist Nationality
Japanese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1799

Medium & Support
woodblock print on paper

Dimensions
19 3/8 in x 14 5/16 in (49.21 cm x 36.35 cm);13 5/8 in x 9 1/4 in (34.61 cm x 23.5 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Subject matter
Utagawa Kunimasa was an apprentice and student of Utagawa Toyokuni in Edo. The actor depicted is Ichikawa Danjūrō VI, a member of the Ichikawa lineage.  He died suddenly at the age of 22.

“Death portraits” or “memorial portraits” of actors would often be published after especially popular actors died, and they often depicted the actor in a role for which he had been famous as well as poems and his posthumus name. Memorial portraits for Ichikawa Danjūrō VI are among the earliest examples of these types of prints.  This print shows Danjūrō praying at a waterfall and a fan with a poem written on it laying on the ground in front of him.
 

Physical Description
Inscriptions: Publisher's seal: (Harimaya Shinshichi); Artist's signature: Kunimasa ga; Ichikawa Danjūrō kyōnen nijūni sai
 
In this portrait, a man kneels before a waterfall with his hands clasped in front of him.  He is well dressed and wearing a sword at his side.  A fan with writing on it lays in front of him.  Several lines of Japanese are written above him.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
actors (performing artists)
brisé fans
calligraphy
figures (representations)
poems
waterfalls (natural bodies of water)