Katsukawa Shunzan

Katsukawa Shunzan was an active printmaker for a defined period between 1767 and 1782. His surviving body of work consists predominantly of prints addressing themes of contemporary social life, theater, and female virtues.

Eleven of his Katsukawa Shunzan prints are currently documented across major international museum collections. The subjects he addressed included specific genre scenes and depictions of famous actors. Notable works include the dramatic portrait The Actor Nakamura Nakazo I as a peddler of toys and the social observation Festival by the Sumida River. Shunzan also contributed to thematic series, exemplified by Courteousness (Rei), which belongs to the larger sequence Five Virtues in the Manners of Women (Fuzoku onna gojo), and works focusing on the pleasure quarter, such as Courtesans at Leisure from The Six Immortal Poets. Another print documenting social interactions is A Young Samurai and Three Women.

The significance of his artistic output is confirmed by institutional holdings. His works are preserved in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. As much historical artwork has moved into the public domain, the legacy of Katsukawa Shunzan is maintained, offering access to high-quality prints for scholars and collectors today.