Kat­sukawa SHUNCHŌ (1726–1792) found­ed the style of por­traits of actors with Ippit­su­sai Bunchō (active from 1751–1764) and con­tributed to the devel­op­ment of actor rep­re­sen­ta­tions ( yakusha‑e ) at. The large-for­mat, pathet­i­cal­ly expres­sive depic­tion of peo­ple is char­ac­ter­is­tic of his style. Shun­cho direct­ed the Kat­sukawa School and was a leader in all styles of actor por­traits. Com­mit­ted to real­ism, he want­ed to repro­duce the char­ac­ter traits of the actors.
His endeav­ors towards por­trait resem­blance in his series of actor sheets, pub­lished in 1768, were groundbreaking.
In the 1780s he main­ly devot­ed him­self to paint­ing ( nikuhit­su-ga - paint­ed with a brush), prefer­ably depict­ing beau­ti­ful women ( bijin-ga ) and genre representations.

Kat­sukawa SHUNCHŌ (1726–1792) found­ed the style of por­traits of actors with Ippit­su­sai Bunchō (active from 1751–1764) and con­tributed to the devel­op­ment of actor rep­re­sen­ta­tions ( yakusha‑e ) at. The large-for­mat, pathet­i­cal­ly expres­sive depic­tion of peo­ple is char­ac­ter­is­tic of his style. Shun­cho direct­ed the Kat­sukawa School and was a leader in all styles of actor por­traits. Com­mit­ted to real­ism, he want­ed to repro­duce the char­ac­ter traits of the actors.
His endeav­ors towards por­trait resem­blance in his series of actor sheets, pub­lished in 1768, were groundbreaking.
In the 1780s he main­ly devot­ed him­self to paint­ing ( nikuhit­su-ga - paint­ed with a brush), prefer­ably depict­ing beau­ti­ful women ( bijin-ga ) and genre representations.


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