Katsukawa Shunchō

Katsukawa Shunchō (勝川 春潮) was a Japanese designer of ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints, who was active from about 1783 to about 1795.

Typical signature of Katsukawa Shunchō reading “Shunchō ga” (春潮 画)

In this Japanese name, the surname is Katsukawa.

Although a student of Katsukawa Shunshō, Shunchō's output, which consists mostly of prints of beautiful women, more closely resembles the work of Torii Kiyonaga.^[1]

Shunchō also designed many shunga prints, which also resemble those of Torii Kiyonaga.^[1]

His work is held in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the British Museum,^[2] the Portland Art Museum,^[3] the University of Michigan Museum of Art,^[4] the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,^[5] the Reading Public Museum,^[6] the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art,^[7] the Harvard Art Museums,^[8] the Minneapolis Institute of Art,^[9] the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College,^[10] the Hyde Collection,^[11] the MOA Museum of Art,^[12] the Indianapolis Museum of Art,^[13] the Brooklyn Museum,^[14] the Suntory Museum of Art,^[15] and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[16]

Gallery

• 
  Woodblock print by Katsukawa Shunchō titled “Viewing Flowers in Four Seasons” (Shiki no hanami)
• 
  Courtesans in front of the Great Gate (Ōmon) of the Shin-Yoshiwara pleasure district, 1780s.

Notes

1. Newland, Amy Reigle. (2005). Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints, p. 456.
2. "diptych print | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
3. "Three, from the series The Twelve Months in Six Continuous Sheets". portlandartmuseum.us. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
4. "Exchange: Figures Promenading by the Sumidagawa [Keyblock print]". exchange.umma.umich.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
5. "An Actor and two women walking". art.nelson-atkins.org. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
6. "The Syllable Kyô: The Faded Chrysanthemum". collection.readingpublicmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
7. "Gregory Allicar Museum of Art - Unknown (Two Groups of Women and Man Walking on Bridge/Women and a Parter [sic] on Nihon Bridge)". claembark.libarts.colostate.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
8. Harvard. "From the Harvard Art Museums' collections Courtesans". harvardartmuseums.org. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
9. "Lady at Loom, Katsukawa Shunchō ^ Minneapolis Institute of Art". collections.artsmia.org. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
10. "Collections Database". museums.fivecolleges.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
11. "Katsukawa Shuncho – Artists – Search the Collection". emuseum.hydecollection.org. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
12. "MOA MUSEUM OF ART » コレクション » Three Beauties Representing Snow, the Moon and Cherry Blossoms". www.moaart.or.jp. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
13. "Actor". Indianapolis Museum of Art Online Collection. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
14. "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
15. "A Picnic Party in Autumn: Collection Database". SUNTORY MUSEUM of ART. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
16. "Katsukawa Shunchō | Three Beauties | Japan | Edo period (1615–1868)". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-02-12.

References

• Hayashi, Yoshikazu, Kiyonaga to Shunchō, Tokyo, Yuko Shobo, 1976, 135–6.
• Keyes, Roger S. & Keiko Mizushima, The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973, 275.
• Lane, Richard. (1978). Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192114471; OCLC 5246796
• Newland, Amy Reigle. (2005). Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints. Amsterdam: Hotei. ISBN 9789074822657; OCLC 61666175

External links

• Bridge of dreams: the Mary Griggs Burke collection of Japanese art, a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Katsukawa Shunchō (see index)