Nakamura Ganjiro as Tojuro
by Natori Shunsen, 1925
Natori Shunsen was the uncontested master of kabuki actor portraits of the Shin Hanga art movement. He had started a career
as an illustrator and freelance artist, who exhibited his paintings in Tokyo galleries until he was discovered by the print publisher
Watanabe. In 1960 Natori Shunsen and his wife committed suicide at the grave of her daughter, who had died at the age of 22 of
pneumonia. Natori Shunsen is regarded as the most important artist for the classical Kabuki subject in 20th century Japan.