NEW YORK, NY.- During the autumn Asia Week in New York, Scholten Japanese Art presents Strike a Pose: Spectacular Imagery of the Kabuki Theater which will remain on view through New York Print Week in November.

This large-scale exhibition presents an array of over seventy images related to one of Japan’s most distinctive, and yet possibly least understood, cultural exports: the kabuki theater. One such item is an exceptionally rare signboard, painted by the artist Torii Kotondo (1900-1976) and possibly dating between the war years 1941 and 1945. That this piece has survived to 2016 is remarkable because billboards of this type were commissioned to be displayed at the kabuki theaters to promote an upcoming production and were rarely preserved. The painting was discovered in Japan by the artist Paul Binnie who restored and remounted it for his private collection and is displayed in the current exhibition in close proximity to an early example of Binnie’s kabuki woodblock prints.

The works in this exhibition depict a form of popular culture not so unlike the mass media of today. Famous 19th century actors, like Ichikawa Danjuro VII (1791-1859) and his sons Ichikawa Danjuro VIII (1823-1854) and Ichikawa Danjuro IX (1838-1903), were widely rendered in woodblock prints of the time, both in theatrical roles and at leisure. Strike a Pose has a number of compositions depicting both actors, many done by the renowned Edo Period artist Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) and his Meiji Period successor Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900).

While kabuki-related subjects had significant visual influence on the West, the highly stylized nature of the theater and the complexity of much of the related imagery create a barrier (both in language and in visual cues) to understanding the underlying meaning of many compositions. In addition to identifying the actors, their roles and their plays, this exhibition uncovers hidden meanings and explores aspects of kabuki that are often overlooked or underappreciated in the West.

It does so by offering a wide scope of kabuki imagery, starting with prints from the turn of the 19th century and moving through the development of the genre, all the way to modern representations of kabuki plays. A triptych by Utagawa Toyokuni I (1769-1825) from circa 1800 imagines the fandom amongst the higher-ranking class by showing female members of a wealthy (possibly samurai) household entertaining themselves by acting out the most popular scene from the play, Kagamiyama (Mt. Kagami). Another image, a triptych by Utagawa Kuniyasu (ca. 1818-1830), shows fans and actors alike scrambling aboard boats to watch a fireworks display. A few depict actors ‘out on the town,’ so to speak, enjoying themselves on cool evenings.

Later highlights within the exhibition include a number of okubi-e (big head portraits) of actors in famous performances, all by Kunisada and Kunichika. Featured here is one such portrait of Morita Kanya XI in the role of Saito Tarozaemon Toshiyuki, a stoic warrior. The expansiveness of this exhibition provides a visitor the opportunity to appreciate the great stylistic changes that occurred over the course of the 19th and 20th century, both in ukiyo-e more generally and its kabuki subjects in particular.
The term kabuki is comprised of three characters, ka (sing), bu (dance), and ki (skill), but it was derived from the term kabuku, which means ‘to lean’ as in leaning away from the norm, or out of the ordinary, bizarre. Kabuki became a huge hit with several theaters offering performances every month affordable to many. The actors became stars much like movie actors are today and kabuki became the foremost subject of Japanese woodblock prints. Literally every performance was accompanied by some kind of print that aficionados could collect. Although the conservative Tokugawa government did not officially support kabuki, it was tolerated and occasionally patronized incognito by some members of the ruling class.

Up until the 19th century, most of the woodblock prints depicting kabuki subjects were produced in conjunction with specific productions in the theater at that time. In fact, many prints featured have been dated to within a month of their publication based on records of playbills and theater advertisements. And while actors were identifiable by the crests on their robes, and the roles would have been apparent to the purchaser who may have just seen the related play.

By the early 19th century, print publishers devised new ways to expand the market by getting kabuki fans to buy more prints utilizing new production strategies. Increasingly prints were produced with images of kabuki actors as tastemakers in everyday life (celebrities- they’re just like us!). Popular actors were depicted repeatedly, as publishers came up with increasingly complex premises to feed the demand. Some actors were fashion trend-setters and especially onnagata, male actors specializing in female roles, were so highly refined that they were thought to embody the height of femininity and yet could still be regarded as sex symbols among their highly devoted female audience. Such onnagata make frequent appearances in the show, including this rare full-length portrait by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) depicting the actor Nakamura Utaemon III in the female role of Mitsugi’s Aunt Omine from ca. 1814.

When Japan opened up to the West in the Meiji Period, kabuki experienced an interesting renaissance, as Western art and sensibilities were rapidly imported and adapted in all aspects of life, playwrights and actors explored new stories, including introducing modern dress and Western plays. Exported imagery of kabuki to the West has had a tremendous visual impact beginning with the rage of Japonisme in the late 19th and early 20th century, even if the vast majority of the meaning was lost to viewers. Kabuki continued to dazzle into the 20th century, and now, competing with photography, artists worked in new styles including the shin hanga (new print) movement exploring realism while continuing to depict the classic roles that are found on the stage even today.

The exhibition will feature over 70 woodblock prints supplemented by a few paintings, including the very rare kabuki signboard by Torii Kotondo (1900-1976) from the collection of the artist Paul Binnie (b. 1967). The majority of the prints will be by the most prolific kabuki artist of the 19th century, Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III, 1786-1865); there will also be works by his teacher, Utagawa Toyokuni I (1769-1825), and his students, Utagawa Kuniyasu (1794-1832), Utagawa Yoshitora (active ca. 1836-1887), Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900), and 20th century artists such as Natori Shunsen (1886-1960), Yamamora Koka (Toyonari, 1885-1942), and Shin’ei (dates unknown), with paintings by Kitano Tsunetomi (1880-1947) and Torii Kotondo.

The viewing will open on Thursday, September 8th, and continue through Friday, September 16th.