Natori Shunsen (Japan, 1886-1960) Print, oban tate-e, yakusha-e, from the series Sōsaku hanga Shunsen nigao-e shū (創作版画春仙似顔絵集), Shunsen Portrait Collection, plate Jūissei Kataoka Nizaemon Kyūdanme no Honzō (十一世片岡仁左衛門九段目の本蔵), Kataoka Nizaemon as Kakogawa Honzô in Act IX [of the play The Treasury of Loyal Servants]. Signed Bichosai Shunsen ga and artist's stamp Shun. Publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō and stamp. Natori artist's stamp of approval in lower left margin. Micaceous background. 1926. Size 39.5 x 27 cm Natori Shunsen was one of the last shin-hanga artists to specialise in portraits of Kabuki actors. He is best known for his famous series Shunsen nigao-e shu published by Watanabe Shozaburo between 1925 and 1928. Kataoka Nizaemon XI (1857-1934) is shown in profile as Kakogawa Honzō, chief advisor to the daimyo Wakanosuke. In Act IX, Honzo disguises himself as a komuso (itinerant monk), recognisable by the neck of his flute (shakuhachi) and the hat used to conceal his face (amigasa). Based on a silver bromide photograph of the actor, this austere portrait perfectly illustrates the character and foreshadows his forthcoming sacrifice. Reference: This print reproduced in: Uhlenbeck, Dwinger, Ouweleen, Shin hanga: Les Estampes Modernes du Japon 1900-1960, Éditions Hazan (2022), p.129 A similar print in the Harvard art museums, no. 1978.415