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Lot Essay
published:
Dai Hokusai ten: Edo ga unda sekai no eshi (Great Hokusai exhibition: A world artist born of Edo), edited by Asahi Shimbun, Tobu Museum of Art, Otsu City Museum of History, Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagata Seiji, editor-in-chief, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1993), pl. 14.
Hokusai ten (Hokusai exhibition), edited by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha, 1967), no. 9.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), no. 37.
Tokubetsu ten Hokusai: Fukutsu no gajin damashii (Special exhibition of Hokusai: The indomitable painter's spirit), exh. cat. (Nagoya: Nagoya City Museum and Chunichi Shimbunsha, 1991), pl. 196.
A geisha has set aside her shamisen to cool herself with a fan. The haiku is signed Hakujubo gisan (playfully inscribed by Hakujubo):
hiki-umite Tired of playing,
tsuki yori mo hito she awaits the evening--
matsu yoi ka not for the moon, it seems,
but for her lover.
The long upper body, short legs, and soft, moist outlines of this woman's face and robes are trademarks of Sori-style bijin, the term used to refer to Hokusai's depiction of women created around the turn of the century with rapid brushwork and poetic inscriptions, impromptu creations produced at gatherings of literary and artistic colleagues. The signature places this work at least after the spring of 1798, when the artist abandoned the art name Sori for Hokusai, but the brush style and round Tokimasa seal suggest it was created not long after.
Dai Hokusai ten: Edo ga unda sekai no eshi (Great Hokusai exhibition: A world artist born of Edo), edited by Asahi Shimbun, Tobu Museum of Art, Otsu City Museum of History, Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagata Seiji, editor-in-chief, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1993), pl. 14.
Hokusai ten (Hokusai exhibition), edited by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha, 1967), no. 9.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), no. 37.
Tokubetsu ten Hokusai: Fukutsu no gajin damashii (Special exhibition of Hokusai: The indomitable painter's spirit), exh. cat. (Nagoya: Nagoya City Museum and Chunichi Shimbunsha, 1991), pl. 196.
A geisha has set aside her shamisen to cool herself with a fan. The haiku is signed Hakujubo gisan (playfully inscribed by Hakujubo):
hiki-umite Tired of playing,
tsuki yori mo hito she awaits the evening--
matsu yoi ka not for the moon, it seems,
but for her lover.
The long upper body, short legs, and soft, moist outlines of this woman's face and robes are trademarks of Sori-style bijin, the term used to refer to Hokusai's depiction of women created around the turn of the century with rapid brushwork and poetic inscriptions, impromptu creations produced at gatherings of literary and artistic colleagues. The signature places this work at least after the spring of 1798, when the artist abandoned the art name Sori for Hokusai, but the brush style and round Tokimasa seal suggest it was created not long after.