UTAGAWA KUNISADA (1786-1865)*

TWO GEISHA EDO PERIOD, LATE BUNSEI ERA (1818-30)

Details

UTAGAWA KUNISADA (1786-1865)*
Two geisha
Edo period, late Bunsei era (1818-30)
Each signed Kochoro Kunisada ga, sealed Gotokan toteki chokuko Pair of hanging scrolls; ink and color on silk
42.3/8 x 16.1/8in. (108.4 x 41.1cm.) each (2)

Exhibited

"Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art," shown at the following venues:
Sendai City Museum, Sendai, 1988.6.11--7.17
Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka, 1988.9.6--10.9
Sogo Museum, Yokohama, 1988.10.20--11.13

Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, Tokyo, "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," 1989.6.14--7.2

Lot Essay

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. 93.

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. 72.

Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pls. 73, 74.

The woman on the left, her robe open and obi loose, opens a morning-after letter with her hairpin. Her companion on the right carries a sake cup together with her all-purpose tissues.