Katsukawa Shunei

Japanese, 1762 - 1819

BiographyKatsukawa Shun-ei was a print artist, illustrator, and ukiyo-e painter. It is said that his behavior was quite eccentric. Despite this eccentricity, he had a wide circle of friends and was a leading pupil of Shunshô. Shun-ei added a contemporary touch to the Katsukawa school depiction of the actor. His numerous o-gao-e portraits have an element of facial exaggeration that is quite dramatic and he may have been the first to apply this kind of portraiture to the o-kubi-e format. His work avoids the expressive intensity of Sharaku but was to prove very influential. Toyokuni was influenced by Shun-ei quite directly, for they were personal friends and artistic colleagues. They even collaborated on an important series of prints. His illustrated books include Shibai Kimmo-zui (1830) a valuable source on the kabuki stage that is encyclopedic in scope. Some critics have suggested that Shun-ei invented the bust portrait (okubi-e). This is not true. The bust portrait can be traced back to the time of Kiyomasu II and can be seen in a number of fan prints housed in the Hibiya Public library, Tokyo. It would be right to consider Shun-ei as one of the first to adopt the portrait format in the early 1790s as mentioned above. Shun-ei was an important influence on Sharraku who also experimented in expressive okubi-e portraits. (HAL)

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Shun'ei was a pupil of Shunsho. His work has more versatility and more range than either Shunshö or Shunkö. Some elements in his style seem to have been factors in the formation of Sharaku's style.

Since Shunkö was not well, many of the duties of the Katsukawa school were given over to Shun'ei (real name, Isoda Kyüjirö). Like most of the artists of the school, he attempted to show the natural expressions of actors on stage. But as Mr. Peter Morse points out, Shun'ei took this basic idea a step further by penetrating into the personality of the actors. In this respect, no doubt, he was an important influence on Sharaku who worked in 1794 and 1795. We would also have to admit that the influence was countered by Sharaku's persuasive style, for Shun'ei's work after 1795 takes on a decided Sharaku flavor. He was quite capable of eccentric behavior and in 1801 the government sentenced him to punishment for certain work that was considered disrespectful of the authorities. He died at the age of fifty-eight in 1819.

Research by: Howard A. Link.

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