Tsukioka YOSHITOSHI
(Japan 1839–1892)
- Title
- Looking smoky - appearances of the housewife of the Kyôwa era
- Other titles:
- Looking smoky: the appearance of a housewife of the Kyowa era
- Alternative title:
- Fûzoku sanjû-ni sô: Kemusô: Kyôwa nenkan naishitsu no fûzoku
- Place of origin
-
Japan
- Period
- Meiji period 1868 - 1912 → Japan
- Year
- 19 May 1888
- Media category
- Materials used
- colour woodcut
- Dimensions
-
Ôban tate-e: 36.7 x 24.0cm image/sheet
- Signature & date
- Signed l.l., in Japanese, ink [incised on block] "Yoshitoshi [and artist's seal]." Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1991
- Accession number
- 368.1991
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
In terms of the centuries-old 'ukiyo-e' tradition, the period from the mid to the end of the nineteenth century is considered the decadent period', since the prints are often characterised by crude and violent subjects, by harshness rather than delicacy, and by gaudy synthetic colours rather than the delicate vegetable dyes of earlier prints. Although Yoshitoshi's works fall within the 'decadent' category, he was perhaps the most creative of his contemporaries and capable of subtle, graceful compositions as exemplified in this beautiful print which shows a middle-class woman fanning a fire. The print belongs to the series 'Thirty-two aspects of customs and manners', which depicts typical moments in the daily lives of women of different social classes during the previous one hundred years.
Art Gallery Handbook, 1999. pg. 284.
- Bibliography (6)
-
Jackie Menzies (Australia) (Author), The Floating World: Japan's world of transient pleasures, Sydney, 1994, not paginated. (colour illus.). cat.no. M32
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 244 (colour illus.), 284 (colour illus.). The image appearing on pg. 244 is in detail.
Yoshitoshi's Women 1986, 1986. plate no. 6
Eric van den Ing (Netherlands) (Author), Robert Schaap (Author), John Stevenson (United States of America, b.1944) (Author), Beauty & Violence: Japanese Prints by Yoshitoshi 1839-1892, Netherlands, 1992, 139 (illus.). cat. no. 63.6
SEGI Shin'ichi (Japan) (Author), Yoshitoshi: The Splendid Decadent, Tokyo, 1985, 94 (colour illus.). fig. no. 56
Inspirations - Art ideas for primary and middle years 2004, 2004, cover (colour illus.), 12 (colour illus.). card 12
- Exhibition history (2)
-
The Floating World: Japan's World of transient pleasures, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 25 May 1994–17 Jul 1994.
Beauty and Desire in Edo period Japan, National Gallery of Australia, 06 Jun 1998–09 Aug 1998.
