Commedia dell'Arte vs Kumadori

コンメディア・デッラルテ / 隈取

Both sit in Stage Design, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Commedia dell'Arte

Commedia dell'Arte — カロ『スフェッサニアの踊り』より（CC0）Commedia dell'Arte — カロの版画 コンメディアの人物（CC0）Commedia dell'Arte — ザンニの革製半仮面 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

Masks and fixed costumes let Italy's improvised comedy name each character at a glance. Harlequin's lozenges and Pulcinella's white belong to a system of visual signs that art, fashion and graphics have never stopped quoting.

Kumadori

Kumadori — 写楽『大谷鬼次の奴江戸兵衛』1794 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainKumadori — 同 メトロポリタン美術館蔵（CC0）Kumadori — 九代目市川団十郎の鎌倉権五郎（『暫』1895年） — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Kabuki makeup that exaggerates muscle and vein in red and indigo lines, diagramming a role's character on the face. With Sharaku's actor prints, the origin of the strong graphic face in Japanese design.

Commedia dell'ArteKumadori
Era16th–18th century1673–
FamilyStage DesignStage Design
KindStyleStyle
CuesLeather half-masks / Harlequin's lozenge pattern / Type-defining costume / Exaggerated gestureRed and indigo kuma lines / Musculature drawn as pattern / White ground / A color code of character
Best used forCostume and character design that names each role at first glance · Festive theatre posters and packaging built on typed comic figuresStage makeup and character faces that state temperament through line and color · Posters and packaging where one strong face has to carry the whole design
TypeHand lettering that tilts with the gesture, at signpainter weightBrushed letters that match the stroke energy of the makeup lines
CompositionFigures ranged across a shallow stage, eyes aligned at mask heightCrop tight to the face and let brow and eye lines set the axis
MaterialLeather half-masks, lozenge cloth and white cotton assigned by roleRed and indigo brushed over white, the bristle streaks left showing
CautionBorrowing only the lozenges and the mask loses the rank and temperament the type was meant to signal, leaving a costume party photograph.Drawing the red and indigo as pure pattern breaks the code that marks good, evil and the superhuman, leaving a decorated face that states nothing.

Put these two together

Stage Design

IndexStyle