Label Text:
Though the original lower panel is unsigned, it is most likely a vertical two-panel portrait, or kakemono-e, of a kabuki actor made by Kunisada III. In the upper panel, the tattoos reference the work of the Torii School, a group of painters and printmakers in Japan who were also the preeminent signmakers for kabuki theater. Throughout his career Binnie has experimented with tattoos, layering images from Edo-period (1600–1868) ukiyo-e prints onto nude or seminude figures. The process of applying the tattoos onto the previously printed ground of human skin also references the creative overprinting techniques refined throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Tags:
Ukiyo-e; men; weapons; swords; tattoos; fighting; mythology; warriors

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2015.34.1

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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