Musashino (Utamaro)
Musashino (武蔵野, c. 1798–99) is a
Background
Ukiyo-e art flourished in Japan during the Edo period from the 17th to 19th centuries, and took as its primary subjects courtesans, kabuki actors, and others associated with the "floating world" lifestyle of the pleasure districts. Alongside paintings, mass-produced woodblock prints were a major form of the genre.[1] In the mid-18th century full-colour nishiki-e prints became common, printed using a large number of woodblocks, one for each colour.[2] A prominent genre was bijin-ga ("pictures of beauties"), which depicted most often courtesans and geisha at leisure, and promoted the entertainments of the pleasure districts.[3]
Description and analysis
The three sheets are multicolour nishiki-e prints in ōban size, about 37 by 24 centimetres (15 in × 9 in) each. The set forms a triptych and was published in c. 1794–95 by Tsutaya Jūzaburō.[6]
The picture is a
In Utamaro's picture, the search party has become fashionably-dressed, pleasure-seeking women who carry
References
- ^ Fitzhugh 1979, p. 27.
- ^ Kobayashi 1997, pp. 80–83.
- ^ Harris 2011, p. 60.
- ^ Kobayashi 1997, pp. 87–88.
- ^ Kobayashi 1997, p. 88.
- ^ a b c Tanabe 2016, p. 70.
- ^ a b Kobayashi 2006, p. 27.
Works cited
- Fitzhugh, Elisabeth West (1979). "A Pigment Census of Ukiyo-E Paintings in the Freer Gallery of Art". Ars Orientalis. 11. Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan: 27–38. JSTOR 4629295.
- Harris, Frederick (2011). Ukiyo-e: The Art of the Japanese Print. ISBN 978-4-8053-1098-4.
- Kobayashi, Tadashi (1997). Ukiyo-e: An Introduction to Japanese Woodblock Prints. ISBN 978-4-7700-2182-3.
- Kobayashi, Tadashi (2006). Utamaro no Bijin 歌麿の美人 [Utamaro's Beauties] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-652105-2.
- Tanabe, Shōko (2016). "Hari-shigoto" 武蔵野. In Asano, Shūgō (ed.). Utamaro Ketteiban 歌麿決定版. Bessatsu Taiyō (in Japanese). Vol. 245. Heibonsha. p. 70. ISBN 9784582922455.