Beauty
Artist
Ukiyo-e School
Artist
Japanese
Date1700-1750
Mediumopaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions75.6 x 38.4 cm (29 3/4 x 15 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Mr. Stuart P. Anderson and Mr. Charles B. Cohn in memory of Mrs. Homer Willard Anderson
Terms
Object number1976.158
Label TextThe standing figure of the gorgeously attired and worldly woman of the Pleasure Quarters is the basic motif of the ukiyo-e (Pictures of the Floating World) painting and prints in the first half of the eighteenth century. Trained not only in the art of love-making but in poetry, music and conversation, she symbolized the ultimate in beauty and desirability.
The painting presents the classic type of beauty of its period. It cannot be identified with any individual artist's style. It belongs to a large group of works that borrow eclectically from the great masters of the period and represent courtesans dressed in exquisite robes of extravagant fabrics. This painting is focused on the figure and details of her clothing. It confirms the love of beautiful clothes shared by men and women alike at all levels of society revealed in the writings of the novelist Ihara Saikaku and a sumptuary legislation of the period.ProvenanceMr. Stuart P. Anderson and Mr. Charles B. Cohn, Worcester MAOn View
Not on view
