Paul Binnie, Scottish, b. 1967

Large-head Kabuki Portraits: Ichikawa Ennosuke as Nikki Danjo
(Kabuki okubi-e: Ennosuke - Nikki Danjo)

with mica on the dark purple background; signed at lower left, Binnie, with artist's seal Bin-ni, numbered at upper right, 11/100, the print title below, Ichikawa Ennosuke, Nikki Danjo, with date seal Heisei hachi-nen (Heisei 8 [1996]), signed in pencil on the bottom margin, Paul Binnie, ca. April - May 1996

oban tate-e 16 1/8 by 11 1/2 in.
41.1 by 29.2 cm

The actor wears the classic costume of the villian Nikki Danjo, a wicked magician who transforms himself from a rat (thus, the grey clothing) into a human in the play Sendai hagi ('Sendai bush clover'). The bright red mark on his forehead is a wound he received from a fan that was thrown at him while he was in the form of a rat.

Reference:
Paul Binnie: A Dialogue with the Past - The First 100 Japanese Prints, 2007, p. 79, no. 37

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