Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Benten Kozō Kikunosuke


Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III)
1860

This is a theatrical scene from the artist's imagination. The male actor plays a thief who dresses as a woman; the reveal is made by his tattooed arm peeking out, as only men bore tattoos back then. Despite that, I like to think of this as a self-portrait. I mean, I sit on furniture and drink tea with my arm out like that all the time.