The Fifth Ichikawa Danjuro as a Samurai 1770 - 1795

This print of the actor Ichikawa Danjuro was created by Katsukawa Shunko using woodblock printing, a painstaking craft requiring a highly skilled division of labor. First, an artist would create the design. Then, specialist block carvers would transfer the design onto multiple woodblocks - one for each color. Finally, a printer would apply the colors in the correct order, layering them to create the final image. The materiality of woodblock prints - their flat surfaces and clean lines - gives them a distinctive graphic quality. In this work, this is particularly evident in the intricate patterns of the actor's robes, where line and color combine to create a vivid effect. Woodblock prints like this were relatively inexpensive and produced in large numbers. This allowed a wider audience to engage with art, particularly with images of popular actors like Ichikawa Danjuro. It’s important to remember that works like this one were a collaborative effort involving many hands, each contributing their unique skills to the final product. By looking closely at materials and processes, we can appreciate the true value of these works, which goes beyond the individual artist's vision.