"Original name Ueno Katsumi. Studied with Torii Kiyotada. Authorized by Torii family to use Torii name in 1949, becoming known as Torii Tadamasa. In 1940 met Watanabe Shozuburo who advised him to select 18 paintings of kabuki makeup to be made into prints. Woodblock prints of these were published as Eighteen Kabuki Makeups (Kabuki kumadori juhachi ban), one a month for 18 months. Watanabe started a second series, Zoku kumadori juhachi ban, but it was discontinued after 7 prints because of war shortages. After the war, Tadamasa designed popular billboards for the kabuki theaters in Tokyo. Eighteen Kabuki (Kabuki juhachi ban)", a series of full-length portraits of actors in traditional roles, was published in 3 folios in 1952 by Shokokusha; carved by Okura Hanbei and Nagashima Michio and printed by Shinmi Saburo. Another series, Kabuki juhachiban no uchi, 1952, published by Daireisha; carved by Maeda Kentaro; printed by Ono Hikojiro." --'Guide to Modern Japanese Prints: 1900-1975' by H. Merritt and N. Yamada



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