Katsukawa Shunshō
Shunshö was a pupil of Miyagawa Shunsui. He designed many actor prints and dominated the field of actor-prints in the 1770s and 1780s. A masterly and competent artist, he was one of the finest colorists in ukiyo-e and also one of the outstanding teachers of the school. Among his pupils were Shun'ei, Shunkö, Shunchö, Shunzan, Shunjö, Shundö, and Shunrö (Hokusai). Shunshö was a prolific worker and many of his prints survive. Not all of the prints are of prime quality and must be sifted rather severely in order to get to the best of them. (This biographical note is based on the one appearing in the Japan Ukiyo-e Society Catalogue of 1963.)
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Shunshö was an important figure in the history of the Kabuki print. He portrayed the Kabuki actor with a greater realism than ever before. Without the realistic tendencies in the work of Shunshö, particularly his portrait style depiction of actors, the unique art of Sharaku (whose portraits verge on caricature) would not have been possible. Yet the debt he owed Harunobu is quite apparent in his fine sense of color and in the cannon of his figures. He studied in both the Miyagawa and Ichö schools and was a gifted ukiyo-e painter as well as print designer. Among his pupils were Shun'ei, Shunkö, Shunchö, Shunzan, Shunjö, Shundö, and Shunrö (Hokusai). Because of the vast number of works designed by this master, many of his works are rather routine and repetitious. Prints of great quality must be carefully sifted from the vast numbers of somewhat uninspired and tedious examples. He particularly liked to design narrow-print triptychs.
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Shunshö received his training in genre painting primarily through the Miyagawa Chöshun school, and was strongly under that school's influence as well as the school of Itchö until the late 1750s. Borrowing the color harmonies of Harunobu and Shigemasa, he sought to develop a greater realism in the depiction of the Kabuki actor in prints beginning in 1760. Up to the time of Shunshö, the depiction of actors was highly stylized with no attempt at a real portrait of the actual actor. His followers were many, and his importance to the history of ukiyo-e actor prints should not be underestimated. Aside from some research done in Germany of Shunshö, and an abortive attempt by an American curator, investigation in Shunshö's life and work was quite limited until 1963 when the Japanese scholar, Yoshikazu Hayashi published his study, "Shunshö". In this work it is suggested that Shunshö may have been Nishikawa Sukenobu's love-child and that Suzuki Harunobu was a direct pupil of Sukenobu. Confirmation of these theories must await future research, but there are most assuredly stylistic connections between the three despite the time span involved.
Research by: Howard A. Link.
