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Image Not Available for Album of Twenty-Four Drawings
Album of Twenty-Four Drawings
Image Not Available for Album of Twenty-Four Drawings

Album of Twenty-Four Drawings

Artist/Culture
Artist/Culture
Date19th Century
Dimensions26.7 x 45.7 cm (10 1/2 x 18 in.)
ClassificationsBooks
Credit LineGift from the estate of John Chandler Bancroft
Object number1901.1213
DescriptionGreen silk damask cover with motif in gold thread. Japanese inscription on cover; also: No. 3 Set of small drawings mounted on light tan paper flecked with gold. Has light wooden box with sliding cover, inscription in Japanese characters, red seal.
Label TextBoth pages are painted in red ink which the artist went over with black ink. This technique of underdrawing is usually reserved for paintings that are going to be filled in with opaque color. These sketches which derive from Hokusai's famous Manga are not finished works of art. They were put into an album in the Meiji Period when the influence of Western art created a market for "drawings" both in Japan and the West. Hotei was originally a Zen Buddhist figure who became one of the Seven Gods of Good Luck of popular imagery. Always rotund, he usually carries a large cloth bag. The painter has filled his paper and framed the image to emphasize the rotundity of the head, stomach and bag of treasures. The drawings on the right page depict (clockwise) a servant presenting a ray of food, a Sumo wrestler stretched out on the floor, a Sumo wrestler eating rice and a woman serving rice. The calligraphic line of the drawing varies from thick to thin along its length giving vitality to the figures. Although Katsuhika Hokusai (1760-1849) is famous as a woodblock print designer, he was once one of the greatest painters in the history of Japanese art. Because he had many followers during his life and after, it is very difficult to separate the work of the master from that of his "students." These drawings lack the powerful eccentric line quality of Hokusai's accepted work.
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