Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

KATSUKAWA SHUNEI (c. 1762 - 1819) THE ACTOR SAKATA HANGORO III
Woodcut, signed 'Shunei ga'. Very good impression, good colours. Rubbed, stained, creases, two small vertical losses at bottom, backed. 'Hosoban', 298 x 136 mm .

Shunei became Katsukawa Shunsho's student at an early age, and by 1782 he was already producing illustrations for comic novels. Originally, Shunei's strength was the warrior print, and many of his early designs deal with this theme. Shunei started making prints of actors around 1790. Like his fellow student Shunko, Shunei produced prints in the style of Shunsho. He is considered to have influenced Sharaku, whose large portraits of actors (okubi-e) on mica ground are of about the same time as prints of similar type by Shunei.