Japanese Beauty in a Red Maple Leaf Robe
Yamaguchi Soken (Sojun)
Description
Gallery Rotation Fall 2013
Yamaguchi Soken
Japan, 1759–1818
Japanese Beauty in a Red Maple Leaf Robe
Edo period (1615–1868)
Early 19th century
Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Helmut Stern, 1985/2.7
Yamaguchi Soken, a Kyoto artist, was a talented pupil of Maruyama Okyo (1733–1795), an influential and commercially successful painter who pioneered a new naturalism perfectly in accord with the no-nonsense taste of an increasingly secular society and his merchant patrons. Soken excelled at bijinga (“pictures of beautiful women”). This one, with an arm withdrawn into her sleeve and a hand working to let down her hair, appears to be undressing; the soft reddish blush on her cheek and her averted eyes suggest that she is aware of being observed.
Subject Matter:
Living in Kyoto, Soken was one of Maruyama Okyo's ten best pupils. He excelled in his depictions of beautiful women. The woman in this work, with one arm withdraw into her sleeve and a hand working to let down her hair, appears to be undressing. The soft reddish blush on her cheek and her averted eyes suggest that she is aware of being observed.
Physical Description:
This image is of a lone female figure centrally located on the scroll. The dominate color of the image is red. The figure's outer kimono is decorated with red and gold maple leaves.
Usage Rights:
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