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Shunshô's student [[Katsukawa Shunko|Shunkô]] (1743-1812) continued his master's tradition and style, and devoted himself more exclusively to actor prints, becoming one of the first to produce large-scale headshot portraits of individual actors. Whereas previous actor prints almost always depicted the full actor, head to toe, and thus represented the role and the costume just as much as the actor, these focused in upon the individual actors' idiosyncrasies and features, becoming true portraits. This form would be continued by many artists after him, including the great masters [[Sharaku]] and [[Kitagwa Utamaro|Utamaro]]. [[Katsukawa Shuncho|Katsukawa Shunchô]], [[Katsukawa Shun'ei|Shun'ei]] and [[Hokusai]] were among other students of the Katsukawa school.
Shunshô's student [[Katsukawa Shunko|Shunkô]] (1743-1812) continued his master's tradition and style, and devoted himself more exclusively to actor prints, becoming one of the first to produce large-scale headshot portraits of individual actors. Whereas previous actor prints almost always depicted the full actor, head to toe, and thus represented the role and the costume just as much as the actor, these focused in upon the individual actors' idiosyncrasies and features, becoming true portraits. This form would be continued by many artists after him, including the great masters [[Sharaku]] and [[Kitagwa Utamaro|Utamaro]]. [[Katsukawa Shuncho|Katsukawa Shunchô]], [[Katsukawa Shun'ei|Shun'ei]] and [[Hokusai]] were among other students of the Katsukawa school.
Pointing to the absence of publishers' seals on many actor prints (particularly those by the Katsukawa school), some scholars have suggested that such prints may have been chiefly sold or given out at Kabuki theatres or ''[[shibai jaya]]'' (teahouses associated with the theatres), or distributed to and within fan clubs, rather than sold at commercial print shops. Some have suggested, however, that the publisher's mark may have simply been omitted for the sake of the design, and it is difficult to know if they were indeed not typically sold in regular shops.<ref>Timothy Clark, "Edo Kabuki in the 1780s," ''The Actor's Image'', Art Institute of Chicago (1994), 45.</ref>
==Maturation==
==Maturation==