Kunisada and Kabuki Part III

28 August - 21 October
Fitzwilliam Museum, Shiba Room

Kunisada and Kabuki is the third in a series of exhibitions to be held at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

It concentrates on surimono - privately-issued prints that combine images and poems. These were often commissioned by poetry clubs associated with actors and artists, and sometimes by the actors themselves.

Kunisada's surimono were mainly produced in the 1820s and 1830s and were almost entirely devoted to Kabuki subjects. Several document his intimacy with leading actors such as Ichikawa Danjuro VII and Onoe Kikugoro III.

Surimono were produced on expensive thick paper with special printing effects such as embossing without ink, burnishing to produce a shining surface of pattern, and reflective metallic pigments. The exhibits all come from the Fitzwilliam Museum's exceptional collection of surimono.