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Lot Essay
A Standing Beauty by Hokusai
The earliest Hokusai paintings of women that we know, evoke a setting of some meeting of a party of writers of popular fiction, kyōka poets, and some artists to also being invited. Especially in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, such parties must have been a quite common and regular practice among the cultural circles of Edo. When Hokusai was also invited, he would probably bring some brushes, some ink and a few pigments, as well as some sheets of paper, hoping to be able to sell a few paintings made on the spot. The commissioner would then ask some of the renowned poets present, such as Santō Kyōden, Akera Kankō, or even Ōta Nanpo aka Shokusanjin, to write a poem above the figure painted by Hokusai. All of these known paintings are made on paper, in ink and mostly with just a few washes of beni red. Some of these are even quite repetitive, as if Hokusai had some stock compositions, such as reclining courtesans seen from behind (Nagata Seiji, Hokusai nikuhitsu taisei. Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 2000, Pls. 38 and 40), or standing by lanterns adorned with the mark of their house. We even know of a triptych composition with a courtesan and two female geisha dating from around 1798⁄1799 (Nagata 2000, Pls. 18-20). However, most of these paintings date from the early nineteenth century, up to around 1805.
It is from then that Hokusai’s name is so well-established that he begins to get commissions from a more wealthy clientele. This enables him to more regularly work on silk and applying a richer palette of pigments, with intense reds, various shades of blues, purple, and even gofun white, made of pulverized oyster shells, for collars of the under kimono and decorative patterns on both kimono and the obi sashes. There are compositions of two courtesans, one standing and the other seated (Narazaki Muneshige, Nikuhitsu ukiyoe, 7: Hokusai. Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1982, Pl. 1, and Nagata 2000, Fig. 45, MOA Museum of Art, Atami, and another in the Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, Tokyo), or a standing woman tying her obi (Narazaki 1982, Pl. 7, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 49), or seen from behind and looking in a mirror adjusting her hair (Narazaki Muneshige, Hokusai ron, Tokyo, 1944, Pl. 147, Private collection, Japan), or a somewhat drunk geisha leaning on her shamisen-case (Narazaki 1982, Pl. 14, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 45, Ujiie Ukiyoe Collection, Kamakura). Then there are groups of five women preparing the cloth for making kimonos (Narazaki 1982, Pl. 12, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 48, Ōta Kinen Bijutsukan, Tokyo), or a vertical composition of five women with one writing a letter, another watering a plant, two others chatting, and another reading a book (Narazaki 1944, Pl. 144; Narazaki 1982, Pl. 15, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 58, Seattle Museum, USA). There is also a diptych composition of one woman holding a fan, another holding a cage in which she is gathering fireflies (Narazaki 1944, Pls. 150-151, and Nagata 2000, Pls. 60-61). Then there is a rather stunning horizontal composition of gathering shells at low tide (Narazaki 1944, Pl. 148, Narazaki 1982, Pl. 20, and Nagata 2000, Fig. 108, Osaka Shiritsu Bijutsukan, Osaka). Somewhat exceptional is a painting evoking a scene from the Genji monogatari (Narazaki 1982, Pl. 11, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 59). Of course, there are more, but these are most relevant in relation with the painting in this lot.
Almost all the paintings cited above are signed ‘Katsushika Hokusai’ and feature the Kimo dasoku seal, that translates as ‘Turtle’s hair and Snake’s feet,’ in short something impossible and unexpected. Indeed, in those days Hokusai was no longer modest about his art. In this respect, the painting of a standing beauty in this lot, by exception on paper, and measuring 975 x 263 mms., and still in a rich color palette, featuring the same ‘Katsushika Hokusai’ signature and the ‘Kimo dasoku’ seal, would seem to be in good company. Indeed, it is not only illustrated in Narazaki’s 1944 Hokusai ron as Pl. 145, but Narazaki-sensei also refers to the work as ‘A standing bijin,’ in his ‘Hokusai no gunkeizu ni tsuite,’ in the February 1948 issue of the national art magazine Kokka, and again in his ‘Katsushika Hokusai no fude futari bijinzu,’ in the August 1975 issue of the same Kokka magazine. But then, ever since, it remained in a private collection that did not lend either to publications or to exhibitions, which explains why it does not figure in more recent catalogues or publications.
Yet there is the bold outlines, especially notable in the obi, the handling of the material of the summer over-kimono, a gauze-like material, somewhat translucent, and its lower part decorated with flower branch-like decorations, and, in spite of the season, an apparently quite heavy silk brocade obi adorned with hexagons on a red base, actually matching with her underkimono that she tries to keep out of sight, yet lending the beauty a perfect balance in its composition. Moreover, what we also see in this painting is the beauty’s kind of a strong and straight neck, something we can see in most Hokusai paintings of beautiful women from this period, 1805 until even the early 1810s. Actually, when Kawanabe Kyōsai selected images that would be typical of various traditions of painting for his Kyōsai gadan, Part 1 vol. 2, of 1887, his page devoted to Katsushika Hokusai typically features three out of five portraits of women with similar straight and strong necks. For him, in this remarkable early example of Japanese art connoisseurship, this represented the Hokusai-brand.
Hokusai used the Kimo dasoku seal apparently from the second month of 1801 to 1814. Obviously, we can also notice the wear on the seal in various areas and going by Nagata Seiji’s discussion of this seal in his Hokusai nikuhitsu taisei, pp. 229-231, a dating to 1809-1810 seems most likely.
Dr. Matthi Forrer, Senior researcher of the Japan Collections of the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden (presently known as the World Museum, Leiden)
The earliest Hokusai paintings of women that we know, evoke a setting of some meeting of a party of writers of popular fiction, kyōka poets, and some artists to also being invited. Especially in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, such parties must have been a quite common and regular practice among the cultural circles of Edo. When Hokusai was also invited, he would probably bring some brushes, some ink and a few pigments, as well as some sheets of paper, hoping to be able to sell a few paintings made on the spot. The commissioner would then ask some of the renowned poets present, such as Santō Kyōden, Akera Kankō, or even Ōta Nanpo aka Shokusanjin, to write a poem above the figure painted by Hokusai. All of these known paintings are made on paper, in ink and mostly with just a few washes of beni red. Some of these are even quite repetitive, as if Hokusai had some stock compositions, such as reclining courtesans seen from behind (Nagata Seiji, Hokusai nikuhitsu taisei. Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 2000, Pls. 38 and 40), or standing by lanterns adorned with the mark of their house. We even know of a triptych composition with a courtesan and two female geisha dating from around 1798⁄1799 (Nagata 2000, Pls. 18-20). However, most of these paintings date from the early nineteenth century, up to around 1805.
It is from then that Hokusai’s name is so well-established that he begins to get commissions from a more wealthy clientele. This enables him to more regularly work on silk and applying a richer palette of pigments, with intense reds, various shades of blues, purple, and even gofun white, made of pulverized oyster shells, for collars of the under kimono and decorative patterns on both kimono and the obi sashes. There are compositions of two courtesans, one standing and the other seated (Narazaki Muneshige, Nikuhitsu ukiyoe, 7: Hokusai. Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1982, Pl. 1, and Nagata 2000, Fig. 45, MOA Museum of Art, Atami, and another in the Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, Tokyo), or a standing woman tying her obi (Narazaki 1982, Pl. 7, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 49), or seen from behind and looking in a mirror adjusting her hair (Narazaki Muneshige, Hokusai ron, Tokyo, 1944, Pl. 147, Private collection, Japan), or a somewhat drunk geisha leaning on her shamisen-case (Narazaki 1982, Pl. 14, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 45, Ujiie Ukiyoe Collection, Kamakura). Then there are groups of five women preparing the cloth for making kimonos (Narazaki 1982, Pl. 12, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 48, Ōta Kinen Bijutsukan, Tokyo), or a vertical composition of five women with one writing a letter, another watering a plant, two others chatting, and another reading a book (Narazaki 1944, Pl. 144; Narazaki 1982, Pl. 15, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 58, Seattle Museum, USA). There is also a diptych composition of one woman holding a fan, another holding a cage in which she is gathering fireflies (Narazaki 1944, Pls. 150-151, and Nagata 2000, Pls. 60-61). Then there is a rather stunning horizontal composition of gathering shells at low tide (Narazaki 1944, Pl. 148, Narazaki 1982, Pl. 20, and Nagata 2000, Fig. 108, Osaka Shiritsu Bijutsukan, Osaka). Somewhat exceptional is a painting evoking a scene from the Genji monogatari (Narazaki 1982, Pl. 11, and Nagata 2000, Pl. 59). Of course, there are more, but these are most relevant in relation with the painting in this lot.
Almost all the paintings cited above are signed ‘Katsushika Hokusai’ and feature the Kimo dasoku seal, that translates as ‘Turtle’s hair and Snake’s feet,’ in short something impossible and unexpected. Indeed, in those days Hokusai was no longer modest about his art. In this respect, the painting of a standing beauty in this lot, by exception on paper, and measuring 975 x 263 mms., and still in a rich color palette, featuring the same ‘Katsushika Hokusai’ signature and the ‘Kimo dasoku’ seal, would seem to be in good company. Indeed, it is not only illustrated in Narazaki’s 1944 Hokusai ron as Pl. 145, but Narazaki-sensei also refers to the work as ‘A standing bijin,’ in his ‘Hokusai no gunkeizu ni tsuite,’ in the February 1948 issue of the national art magazine Kokka, and again in his ‘Katsushika Hokusai no fude futari bijinzu,’ in the August 1975 issue of the same Kokka magazine. But then, ever since, it remained in a private collection that did not lend either to publications or to exhibitions, which explains why it does not figure in more recent catalogues or publications.
Yet there is the bold outlines, especially notable in the obi, the handling of the material of the summer over-kimono, a gauze-like material, somewhat translucent, and its lower part decorated with flower branch-like decorations, and, in spite of the season, an apparently quite heavy silk brocade obi adorned with hexagons on a red base, actually matching with her underkimono that she tries to keep out of sight, yet lending the beauty a perfect balance in its composition. Moreover, what we also see in this painting is the beauty’s kind of a strong and straight neck, something we can see in most Hokusai paintings of beautiful women from this period, 1805 until even the early 1810s. Actually, when Kawanabe Kyōsai selected images that would be typical of various traditions of painting for his Kyōsai gadan, Part 1 vol. 2, of 1887, his page devoted to Katsushika Hokusai typically features three out of five portraits of women with similar straight and strong necks. For him, in this remarkable early example of Japanese art connoisseurship, this represented the Hokusai-brand.
Hokusai used the Kimo dasoku seal apparently from the second month of 1801 to 1814. Obviously, we can also notice the wear on the seal in various areas and going by Nagata Seiji’s discussion of this seal in his Hokusai nikuhitsu taisei, pp. 229-231, a dating to 1809-1810 seems most likely.
Dr. Matthi Forrer, Senior researcher of the Japan Collections of the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden (presently known as the World Museum, Leiden)