Toshusai Sharaku (act. 1794-95) The Actor Otani Oniji III as Edobei in the Kabuki Play Koi nyobo somewake tazuna (The Beloved Wife's Particolored Reins) Woodcut, an okubi-e (large-head portrait) on a dark silver-mica ground and with grey outline (indicative of the state) of the actor in the role of Edobei, manservant (yakko) to one of the villains of the play Koi nyobo somewake tazuna, performed at the Kawarazaki Theater in the fifth month of Kansei 6 (1794), signed Toshusai Sharaku ga, published by Tsutaya Juzaburo(mark, censor's seal kiwame oban tate-e: image measures 14.75"H X 9.75"W. Theories persist about the identity of the enigmatic master Sharaku, who worked for ten months between 1794 and 1795 in collaboration with the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo. The recent discovery in a museum on Corfu of a fan painting signed by Sharaku caused renewed excitement in the world of ukiyo-e scholarship. The portrait in this lot is distinguished by it's psychological intensity and reductive approach. On a dark gray mica ground, an exceptional feat of printing requiring a specialized studio and major financing. 136 of Sharaku's total oeuvre of 145 print designs take kabuki actors as their subject. The scholar Matthi Forrer believes that Sharaku's prints, despite their startling novelty, were an immediate success and that he must be regarded as the most popular designer of actor prints of his day. For reasons still unknown, but perhaps having to do with a difficult relationship with his publisher, he gave up designing prints after less than one year.

Condition: With a small repair lower right, On reverse is a pencil note which states "Woodblock ? 1794 by Sharaku". Reverse also bearing an old seal possible that of the repairer

Private collection Dearborn, Michigan.