Kabuki: Heroes on the Osaka Stage, 1780 -1830 - Softcover

C. Andrew Gerstle; Timothy Clark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714124303 ISBN 13: 9780714124308

Publisher: British Museum Press, 2005

Synopsis

Paperback. Pub Date: 2005 07 Publisher: itish Museum Press Click on the Google Preview image above to the read some pages of this book! Passes to the Kabuki Heroes is about collective participation in urban culture - on the stage. in poetry salons in art studios and in fan clubs. Focusing on the culture of Kabuki theatre in Osaka and Kyoto. it illustrates the passionate hero worship of actors by all levels of society. Fans vigorously engaged in the creation of celeity and fame for their idols. and thereby won their own moments of glory and glamour in the spotlight. Many of these participants are represented here - most of them ordinary townsmen. but also a few samurai and courtiers. This interactive nature of Kabuki culture is particularly intriguing: the actors themselves not only appeared on stage. but involved themselves in other cultural circles such as poetry salons. Ka...

About this title

Review:

"Like all the best of its kind...this publication is not only comprehensive and fully annotated, but vastly extends one's appreciation."
-- David Coombs' Art Newsletter, November 2005

"...illustrates the passionate hero worship of actors by all levels of society."
--Asian Art Newsletter, December 2005

Synopsis:

The creation of celebrity and fame is a topic easily understandable in today's world of pop idol competitions and reality TV shows. This exhibition and catalogue will focus on a similar phenomenon of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when urban Osaka and Tokyo created superstar actors, and will show how this was a stimulus for the creation of theatre, visual arts and poetry. Visitors to the exhibition will be struck by a colourful and varied visual display through which actors were portrayed as legendary urban heroes. The dates of items included will range from about 1780 until the 1830s; but the core of the exhibition will cover the period 1800-1821, and focus on the fierce rivalry between the two Osaka Kabuki superstars, Arashi Kichisaburo II (Rikan I, 1769-1821) and Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan I, 1778-1838). Books, surimono, single sheet actor prints and albums will highlight the different ways in which actors and performances were represented, and show how this was part of a complex strategy to create celebrity for the actors, poets and artists involved.

About this edition

• Publisher: British Museum Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0714124303
• ISBN 13: 9780714124308
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304