Kagekiyo, from the series “Eighteen Kabuki Plays”

Ueno Tadamasa filled this composition with the fearsomely painted face and sculptural wig of an actor playing the role of General Kagekiyo (d.1196). Imprisoned by the rival Minamoto clan, Kagekiyo of the Taira faction ultimately starved himself to death. In kabuki dramatizations of his exploits, Kagekiyo breaks out of his cell and brandishes a beam of wood in a display of rage and herculean strength. Tadamasa made his first portraits of actors at the invitation of publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō in 1940. In 1949 Tadamasa was inducted into the Torii school of artists that had dominated the field of actor prints for almost 300 years. The genre went into decline during World War II (1939–1945), but the exquisitely produced designs of Tadamasa testify to continuing demand for high-quality actor portraits as Japan began to rebuild.