Katsukawaha　勝川派

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Lit. Katsukawa school. A school of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists who specialized in the hand-painting *nikuhitsuga 肉筆画 of beautiful women *bijinga 美人画 and woodblock print portraits of popular *kabuki 歌舞伎 actors *yakusha-e 役者絵 and sumou wrestlers *sumou-e 相撲絵. The school can be traced back to Miyagawa Choushun 宮川長春 (1682-1752), one of the early ukiyo-e masters of bijinga. The Katsukawa school was established by Miyagawa Shunsui 宮川春水 (fl early 18c), one of Choushun's disciples, after the systematic political oppression of the Kanou school *Kanouha 狩野派 in favor of the Miyagawa school, Miyagawaha 宮川派 in 1750. Because Choushun's other disciples were arrested and banished and because Choushun died soon after the incident, Shunsui was forced to change the name of the school to Katsu-Miyagawa 勝宮川 and then Katsukawa. Shunsui's talented disciple, Katsukawa Shunshou 勝川春章 (1726-92), established the Katsukawa school. Unlike the stylized pictures of kabuki actors by *Toriiha 鳥居派 artists, Shunshun and his followers created a new style of actor portrait which expressed an actors' personality vividly. He and his disciple Shunkou 春好 (1743-1812) are usually associated with the creation of realistic portraits called *nigao-e 似顔絵, as well as close-up views of actor's faces called *ookubi-e 大首絵 and *oogao-e 大顔絵. These styles became extremely popular and influential during the last three decades of 18c. Other well-known artists using these styles included Shun'ei 春英 (1762-1819) and Shunchou 春潮. Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849), then named Katsukawa Shun'ou 勝川春朗, also studied under Shunshou but then left the school to become an independent artist. In around 1800, *Utagawaha 歌川派 artists dominated the actor portrait genre, and the Katsukawa school gradually faded, disappearing altogether by the 1840's.

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