Osagawa Tsuneyo as a Woman Standing in a Room 1783 - 1803

Katsukawa Shun'ei’s woodblock print presents Osagawa Tsuneyo, an actor, in a private, almost vulnerable moment. Shun’ei was part of the Katsukawa school of ukiyo-e artists that specialized in images of actors. During the Edo period, the rigid class structure confined actors to the lowest social stratum, yet they enjoyed immense popularity. Shun’ei captures Osagawa not in the exaggerated performance of Kabuki, but as a woman off-stage. It is interesting to consider the complexities of representing gender and profession in this period. The print offers a glimpse into the emotional life of a figure who publicly embodied many roles, raising questions about identity, performance, and the boundaries between public and private selves. Shun’ei’s work invites us to consider the emotional and social dimensions of representation, and reminds us of the very human stories behind the faces we see represented in art.