Kabuki actor prints (research)

During the Edo period in Japan (1603-1868), one of the most popular genres of woodblock prints depicted kabuki actors. Artists worked with publishers to create these prints, which showed performers in various roles, costumes, and poses, which were then purchased and collected by fans. This project, conducted by Mellon Curatorial Fellow Nicholas Liou, works to better identify textual and iconographical information of WCMA's collection of kabuki actor prints by Utagawa Kunisada, such as calligraphic inscriptions, seals, and stylistic conventions, and to make these details more accessible to digital audiences.