Sharaku at The Art Institute Chicago
Jacoulet was swayed
Kabuki-Actor Portraits by Tōshūsai Sharaku at the Art Institute of Chicago started with a startling premise:
Between the summer of 1794 and early spring of 1795, an artist using the name Tōshūsai Sharaku produced around 150 prints representing Kabuki actors: a prolific display of innovation in a mere ten months.
It’s good to be reminded how old people had vigor and ancestors aren’t dead, just flexing. This artist from more than 200 years ago was influential to so many things around us.
Here’s images of every piece in the show, which can only be displayed once every decade or so, given requirements around conservation of prints on paper.
The gestures and facial expressions that Sharaku captured—wide eyes, gaping mouths, and contorted faces—are strikingly relevant to today’s pop culture, especially in manga and anime. The intense expressions of anger, surprise, or determination that Sharaku emphasized are often mirrored in contemporary character designs. In particular, the exaggerated emotions commonly seen in manga closely resemble the kabuki-style expressions Sharaku immortalized. The kabuki influence is also evident in characters' poses and postures, where grand, theatrical gestures emphasize action or emotional intensity, maintaining the dramatic flair central to both kabuki and manga.
Moreover, Sharaku’s portraits also prefigured the visual language of modern pop culture by using exaggeration to reveal character depth. Just as Sharaku distorted features to convey the actor’s theatrical persona, modern manga artists frequently exaggerate facial features—such as overlarge eyes or elongated mouths—to communicate emotions that transcend normal human expressions. For instance, in many manga and anime, characters’ eyes may enlarge in moments of shock or excitement, while their entire faces may contort in moments of anger or confusion. This tradition of visual exaggeration has a direct lineage back to Sharaku’s ukiyo-e works, particularly in how kabuki theater's emphasis on heightened emotion has shaped modern visual storytelling.
Elsewhere
Kabuki-Actor Portraits by Tōshūsai Sharaku at the Art Institute of Chicago
The High-Drama Kabuki Portraits of an Enigmatic Artist
Japanese Gallery (Honkan) Room 10 at the Tokyo National Museum
See also this booklet I wrote: “Paul Jacoulet, Outsider Artist: A reconsideration of Japanese Woodcut Art from a Parisian in Japan, 1934 – 1960”