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拍品专文
published:
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: 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. 22.
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, and Japan Institute of Arts and Crafts, eds., Edo no fashon, kaikan kinen ten, Part 1: 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. 22.
Dale Carolyn Gluckman, and Sharon Sadako Takeda, When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-period Japan, exh. cat. (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1992), cat. no. 190, color pl. p. 318.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 22.
If Moronobu invented the prototype for the ideal desirable female figure of the late 17th century, the Kaigetsudo ("Embrace the Moon Studio") artists, six of them in all, put the finishing touches on her in the early 18th. They managed to do this by eliminating all else from their repertoire and making prostitutes their specialty--not just any prostitutes, but the most elegant and accomplished courtesans, as is clear from the richness of their robes and their extremely haughty demeanor. It is said that the Kaigetsudo studio was located just outside the Yoshiwara. It was thus well situated to cater both to clients who wanted souvenirs of an unforgettable evening, as well as to those who needed to make do with a painted surrogate of something hopelessly beyond their means. It is perhaps ironic that this highest rank of courtesan was beginning to disappear from the Yoshiwara due to her prohibitive cost just around the time that the Kaigetsudo perfected her image.
While the Kaigetsudo "borrowed" from Moronobu the thrice-bent pose, the tiny facial features, the convention of hiding one hand inside the sleeve, and the conveying of refinement by means of eloquently positioned digits like fingers and toes, they introduced changes that lifted their subjects beyond the realm of flesh-and-blood mortals (like today's artificially enhanced super-models). The body becomes impossibly elongated, the head becomes implausibly small, and the feet are so tiny it is difficult to imagine them bearing the weight of the lady and her monumental robes, delineated with the heavy calligraphic line suited to be translated into wooden blocks for the cheaper printed versions of the images.
If there is a vestal-virgin quality to the Embrace The Moon Studio's courtesans, they were nonetheless, like shrine maidens and kabuki women, sexually available. Lot 23 delineates in handscroll format a series of transactions between clients and these ostensibly untouchable women.
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: 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. 22.
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, and Japan Institute of Arts and Crafts, eds., Edo no fashon, kaikan kinen ten, Part 1: 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. 22.
Dale Carolyn Gluckman, and Sharon Sadako Takeda, When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-period Japan, exh. cat. (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1992), cat. no. 190, color pl. p. 318.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 22.
If Moronobu invented the prototype for the ideal desirable female figure of the late 17th century, the Kaigetsudo ("Embrace the Moon Studio") artists, six of them in all, put the finishing touches on her in the early 18th. They managed to do this by eliminating all else from their repertoire and making prostitutes their specialty--not just any prostitutes, but the most elegant and accomplished courtesans, as is clear from the richness of their robes and their extremely haughty demeanor. It is said that the Kaigetsudo studio was located just outside the Yoshiwara. It was thus well situated to cater both to clients who wanted souvenirs of an unforgettable evening, as well as to those who needed to make do with a painted surrogate of something hopelessly beyond their means. It is perhaps ironic that this highest rank of courtesan was beginning to disappear from the Yoshiwara due to her prohibitive cost just around the time that the Kaigetsudo perfected her image.
While the Kaigetsudo "borrowed" from Moronobu the thrice-bent pose, the tiny facial features, the convention of hiding one hand inside the sleeve, and the conveying of refinement by means of eloquently positioned digits like fingers and toes, they introduced changes that lifted their subjects beyond the realm of flesh-and-blood mortals (like today's artificially enhanced super-models). The body becomes impossibly elongated, the head becomes implausibly small, and the feet are so tiny it is difficult to imagine them bearing the weight of the lady and her monumental robes, delineated with the heavy calligraphic line suited to be translated into wooden blocks for the cheaper printed versions of the images.
If there is a vestal-virgin quality to the Embrace The Moon Studio's courtesans, they were nonetheless, like shrine maidens and kabuki women, sexually available. Lot 23 delineates in handscroll format a series of transactions between clients and these ostensibly untouchable women.