Ichikawa Komazo I 1759 - 1779

Curator: This is a striking print, "Ichikawa Komazo I" by Ippitsusai Bunchō, made sometime between 1759 and 1779. What are your first thoughts? Editor: It has an incredible sense of stillness. The vertical lines, the muted palette—it feels so carefully constructed, almost like a stage set. There’s a kind of melancholy air around the figure. Curator: Absolutely, the artist employs such deliberate choices. Looking at the production of prints like these, Ukiyo-e prints were often collaborative endeavors. Think about the carvers, printers, and of course, the publishers all playing their parts in circulating these images. And consider who this depicted, Ichikawa Komazo, an actor. These prints were essentially advertisements and celebrity portraits all in one, fueling the cult of personality around Kabuki stars. Editor: So it's interesting that you frame the Ukiyo-e as advertisement as it points to questions of labour and commercial exchange inherent within artistic practices. And these aren't just luxury objects, were they? Relatively accessible for those within urban populations? Curator: Precisely, their mass production enabled a wide circulation amongst the burgeoning merchant class. It speaks volumes about shifting social structures and new consumer cultures. This piece has so much socio-economic information embedded within it, beyond being merely aesthetically pleasing. What do you think of its composition, though? Editor: I am intrigued by its presentation within museums because their production depends heavily on these complex market forces. Notice the careful way Bunchō employs that geometric pattern on the robes, the meticulous lines. And the positioning next to the stand and window gives a sense of his context in an ambiguous way. One begins to wonder where he actually is. Curator: Yes, I feel we are witnessing art capturing life – not always faithfully or realistically but refracted through the lens of commerce and fame, becoming artifacts with so much stored potential and possibilities of material investigation. Editor: Indeed, offering snapshots into both the social and material fabric of their time.