Description:
Color transparencies in a light box

Label Text:
Kunisada’s original print depicts a traditional kabuki costume change: the character of Yoshikado often appears in disguise, only revealing his true identity at a climactic moment and with the help of stagehands who pull off the outer layers of his costume. With this lightbox, however, Vershbow has reimagined the scene as a tug-of-war between an Edo-period actor and a modern girl, who wears American sneakers and sports a hairstyle reminiscent of contemporary Japanese horror films, such as The Ring (1998) and The Grudge (2002). Despite her modernity, an aspect of kabuki theater remains: the girl’s feathered torso and masked eyes suggest her transformation from the owl in the central panel to a chimerical human. Such metamorphoses are a staple of kabuki.

Tags:
theater; kabuki; nature; trees; men; women; warriors; costume; shoes

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2016.03

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