Actor Bandō Hikosaburō VI as Matsuōmaru 1928

Natori Shunsen made this woodblock print of Actor Bandō Hikosaburō VI as Matsuōmaru. It's an image built from lines, and flat planes of color; a distillation. The way Shunsen simplifies the actor's face, the makeup becomes an abstract landscape, a mask of emotion rendered in bold, graphic strokes. Look at the actor’s grip on the sword. It's a study in tension, the knuckles white against the painted face. The whole print feels like a moment before action, before the story unfolds. Everything is carefully placed, yet there's an energy that vibrates off the surface, a balance between control and spontaneity. I’m reminded of Matisse's cut-outs, that same pursuit of capturing essence through reduction, where the negative space is as important as the form itself. Just like Matisse, Shunsen seems to say: art is a conversation, a play, a way of seeing the world anew.