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Treasures of Japanese Art II
NC370
20 cards, 5 each of 4 images
$19.95
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Woman Holding a Fan
Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, 1753-1806) was recognized worldwide as a master of ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) during the Edo period of Japan. His print designs numbered over 2000 and ranged in subject from landscape, to realistic natural drawing, to erotica. Utamaro was especially renowned for his evocative images of women of all ranks of Japanese society. In his depiction of courtesans, widows, and mothers and children, Utamaro consistently portrayed an idealized form of feminine beauty with an elongated face and sharp profile. In this woodblock print, a young courtesan (geisha), indicated by her elaborate robe and hairstyle, demurely conceals her expression by covering her mouth with her hand, which is made visible through the delicately translucent sleeve of her robe.
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A Scene from "A Country Genji by the Commoner Murasaki"
The Tale of Genji, one of the most important works of Japanese literature, recounts the adventures of Genji, a lover, poet, and ideal eleventh-century courtier. This woodblock print, by Utagawa Kunisada (Japanese, 1786-1864), is the left panel of a triptych, from a mid-nineteenth-century retelling of the tale written by Ryutei Tanehiko. In this scene, a courtesan and two companions arrive at Rokujo, the home of Princess Akashi, to enjoy the moon, the sounds of the bell crickets, and poetry reading with Genji and his melancholy wife. |
The Courtesan Takao with a Poem by Sugawara no Michizane
Although perhaps most famous for his landscapes, the artist Ando Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797-1858) also produced prints of beautiful women, actors, and birds. This woodblock print comes from the collection Allusions to the One Hundred Poems, which contained one hundred five-line poems by one hundred famous poets of the seventh through the thirteenth centuries and was illustrated by renowned artists. The poem, number twenty-four in this series, reads: This time around / Since I could bring no offering/ To Mount Tamuke / Here instead is a brocade of autumn leaves / If the gods may so be pleased. |
Scene from the "Satomi Hakkenden"This woodblock print demonstrates the type of book illustration for which Utagawa Kunisada was especially known. This work, which is the left panel of a triptych, shows the marriage of eight princesses from the last volume of the Satomi Hakkenden (Legend of the Eight Dogs of the Satomi in Nansō), a late nineteenth-century Japanese novel chronicling the adventures of the Satomi clan. Here, three elaborately dressed princesses, their names in small boxes to their left, stand in front of a magnificent screen decorated with painted cranes, as they prepare for a royal wedding. The cranes, traditional symbols of fidelity, foretell a long and happy marriage, while the cherry blossoms at the lower right allude to the fleeting nature of beauty.
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