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Lot Essay
published:
Azabu Museum of Art, ed., Azabu bijutsukan: Shuzohin zuroku (Azabu Museum of Art: Catalogue of the collection) (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art, 1986), no. 32.
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihinten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 28.
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, and Japan Institute of Arts and Crafts, eds., Edo no fashon, kaikan kinen ten, Part I: Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e ni miru onnatachi no yosooi/"Fashion of Edo": Women's dress in Ukiyo-e Paintings, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, 1989), pl. 28.
Dale Carolyn Gluckman, and Sharon Sadako Takeda, When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-period Japan (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1992), cat. no. 193, color pl. p. 31.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pls. 29--1, 29--2.
Nakau Ei, ed., Ukiyo-e hyakunin hyakushu (Ukiyo-e--one hundred people, one hundred minds) (Tokyo: Sojusha Bijutsu Shuppan, 1984), no. 32.
Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meisaku ten: Orinpikku Tokyo taikai kinen/The exhibition of ukiyoe hand-paintings [sic]: In commemoration of the Tokyo Olympics, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1964), no. 77.
Shibui Kiyoshi, ed., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e bijinga shusei/Ukiyo-e Paintings of Beauties in Japanese Collections, vol. 1 (Tokyo: Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1983), Genroku pl. 45.
This gorgeous lad is a paragon of the hyper-femininity that only male actors who have dedicated their lives to the art of cross-dressing can achieve. The tradition is alive today in the likes of Bando Tamasaburo V (b. 1950), one of kabuki's leading specialists in female roles. He manages to make any real female in his presence feel deficient.
Terunobu has captured with uncanny palpability the subject's alluring mixture of sweetness (he wears the long sleeves of a maiden) and toughness required of these professional transvestites, who were often sold as young boys by their families to be actors' apprentices, i.e. male prostitutes. This fascinating "ideal female" comes very close to portraiture; it is thought to represent a specific, although alas now unknown, individual. The lad's distinctive features, especially the rather pointed chin, differ palpably from the generic repetition of ideal types used to portray the female of the species. At first glance it might seem difficult to determine the sex of the sitter--especially when one considers the impossibly tiny hands and feet--but the distinctive cap is the mark of a female impersonator. Because these beautiful youths provoked sometimes fatal rivalries among their suitors, the government ordered them to shave their forelocks in the conventional male fashion, with the objective of undercutting their allure. The lavish purple silk scarves which the transvestites devised to conceal this disfiguration, however, became fetishes in themselves, and such youths came to be dubbed "purple-hat love-children" (iroko boshi). The striped second layer of kimono also suggests that the figure is a male.
Little is known about Nishikawa Terunobu, except that he is known also to have designed printed books.
Azabu Museum of Art, ed., Azabu bijutsukan: Shuzohin zuroku (Azabu Museum of Art: Catalogue of the collection) (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art, 1986), no. 32.
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihinten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 28.
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, and Japan Institute of Arts and Crafts, eds., Edo no fashon, kaikan kinen ten, Part I: Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e ni miru onnatachi no yosooi/"Fashion of Edo": Women's dress in Ukiyo-e Paintings, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, 1989), pl. 28.
Dale Carolyn Gluckman, and Sharon Sadako Takeda, When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-period Japan (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1992), cat. no. 193, color pl. p. 31.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pls. 29--1, 29--2.
Nakau Ei, ed., Ukiyo-e hyakunin hyakushu (Ukiyo-e--one hundred people, one hundred minds) (Tokyo: Sojusha Bijutsu Shuppan, 1984), no. 32.
Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meisaku ten: Orinpikku Tokyo taikai kinen/The exhibition of ukiyoe hand-paintings [sic]: In commemoration of the Tokyo Olympics, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1964), no. 77.
Shibui Kiyoshi, ed., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e bijinga shusei/Ukiyo-e Paintings of Beauties in Japanese Collections, vol. 1 (Tokyo: Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1983), Genroku pl. 45.
This gorgeous lad is a paragon of the hyper-femininity that only male actors who have dedicated their lives to the art of cross-dressing can achieve. The tradition is alive today in the likes of Bando Tamasaburo V (b. 1950), one of kabuki's leading specialists in female roles. He manages to make any real female in his presence feel deficient.
Terunobu has captured with uncanny palpability the subject's alluring mixture of sweetness (he wears the long sleeves of a maiden) and toughness required of these professional transvestites, who were often sold as young boys by their families to be actors' apprentices, i.e. male prostitutes. This fascinating "ideal female" comes very close to portraiture; it is thought to represent a specific, although alas now unknown, individual. The lad's distinctive features, especially the rather pointed chin, differ palpably from the generic repetition of ideal types used to portray the female of the species. At first glance it might seem difficult to determine the sex of the sitter--especially when one considers the impossibly tiny hands and feet--but the distinctive cap is the mark of a female impersonator. Because these beautiful youths provoked sometimes fatal rivalries among their suitors, the government ordered them to shave their forelocks in the conventional male fashion, with the objective of undercutting their allure. The lavish purple silk scarves which the transvestites devised to conceal this disfiguration, however, became fetishes in themselves, and such youths came to be dubbed "purple-hat love-children" (iroko boshi). The striped second layer of kimono also suggests that the figure is a male.
Little is known about Nishikawa Terunobu, except that he is known also to have designed printed books.