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Three Beauties Of The Present Day
is a ' colour woodblock print from by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Kitagawa Utamaro (–1806). The triangular composition depicts the profiles of three celebrity beauties of the time: geisha Tomimoto Toyohina, and teahouse waitresses Naniwaya Kita and Takashima Hisa. The print is also known under the titles and . Utamaro was the leading ukiyo-e artist in the 1790s in the ' genre of pictures of female beauties. He was known for his ', which focus on the heads. The three models in ''Three Beauties of the Present Day'' were frequent subjects of Utamaro's portraiture. Each figure in the work is adorned with an identifying family crest. The portraits are idealized, and at first glance their faces seem similar, but subtle differences in their features and expressions can be detected—a level of realism at the time unusual in ukiyo-e, and a contrast with the stereotyped beauties in earlier masters such as Harunobu and Kiyonaga. The luxurious print was published by Tsutaya Jūzabu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas. With more than 1.2 million visitors a year, it is the 52nd–most visited art museum in the world . Founded in 1870 in Copley Square, the museum moved to its current Fenway location in 1909. It is affiliated with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. History 1870–1907 The Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1870 and was initially located on the top floor of the Boston Athenaeum. Most of its initial collection came from the Athenæum's Art Gallery. Francis Davis Millet, a local artist, was instrumental in starting the art school affiliated with the museum, and in appointing Emil Otto Grundmann as its first director. In 1876, the museum moved to a h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oiran
is a collective term for the highest-ranking courtesans in Japanese history, who were considered to be above common prostitution, prostitutes (known as ) for their more refined entertainment skills and training in the traditional arts. Divided into a number of ranks within this category, the highest rank of were the , who were considered to be set apart from other due to their intensive training in the traditional arts. Though by definition also engaged in prostitution, higher-ranking had a degree of choice in which customers they took; , in contrast, did not engage in sex work at all. The term originated in Yoshiwara, the Yūkaku, red light district of Edo in the 1750s, and is applied to all ranks of high level courtesans in historical Japan. The services of were well known for being exclusive and expensive, with typically only entertaining the upper classes of society, gaining the nickname for their perceived ability to steal the hearts and match the wits of upper-cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bakufu
, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura period, shoguns were themselves figureheads, with real power in hands of the Shikken of the Hōjō clan. The office of shogun was in practice hereditary, though over the course of the history of Japan several different clans held the position. The title was originally held by military commanders during Heian period in the eighth and ninth centuries. When Minamoto no Yoritomo gained political ascendency over Japan in 1185, the title was revived to regularize his position, making him the first shogun in the usually understood sense. The shogun's officials were collectively referred to as the ; they were the ones who carried out the actual duties of administration, while the Imperial court retained only nominal authority.Beasley, William G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sharebon
which can be roughly translated as "book of manners", was a pre-modern Japanese literary genre, produced during the middle of the Edo period from the 1720's all the way to the end of the 18th century. Plots almost invariably took place in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters, and usually revolved around the misadventures of two contrasting male archetypes, the "Tsu" or "sophisticate", and the Tanketsu or "one who only pretends at sophistication." The writing had a huge emphasis on humor and dialogue, without much in the way of actual dramatic or narrative plot elements. Physically, were produced using woodblock print, and published as individual booklets measuring, on average, in width and in height. The booklets themselves containing anywhere from 60 to 100 pages. Most booklets had an illustration placed either right after the title page or along with the preface. are considered a subgenre of . Characteristics was a satirical genre focused on the culture around the pleasure qu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santō Kyōden
Santō Kyōden (山東 京伝, 13 September 1761 Edo – 27 October 1816) was a Japanese artist, writer, and the owner of a tobacco shop during the Edo period. His real name was Iwase Samuru (岩瀬 醒), and he was also known popularly as Kyōya Denzō (京屋伝蔵, ''kyōya denzō''). He began his professional career illustrating the works of others before writing his own Kibyōshi and Sharebon. Within his works, Kyōden often included references to his shop to increase sales. Kyōden's works were affected by the shifting publication laws of the Kansei Reforms which aimed to punish writers and their publishers for writings related to the Yoshiwara and other things that were deemed to be "harmful to society" at the time by the Tokugawa Bakufu. As a result of his punishment in 1791, Kyōden shifted his writings to the more didactic Yomihon. During the 1790s, Santō Kyōden became a household name and one of his works could sell as many as 10,000 copies, numbers that were previou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanō School
The is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting from the late 15th century until the Meiji period which began in 1868, by which time the school had divided into many different branches. The Kanō family itself produced a string of major artists over several generations, to which large numbers of unrelated artists trained in workshops of the school can be added. Some artists married into the family and changed their names, and others were adopted. According to the historian of Japanese art Robert Treat Paine, "another family which in direct blood line produced so many men of genius ... would be hard to find". The school began by reflecting a renewed influence from Chinese painting, but developed a brightly coloured and firmly outlined style for large panels decorating the castles of the nobility which reflected distinctively Japanese traditions, while continuing to produce monochrome brush paintin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toriyama Sekien
200px, A Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō, as portrayed by Toriyama">Miage-nyūdō.html" ;"title="Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō">Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō, as portrayed by Toriyama , real name Sano Toyofusa, was an 18th-century scholar, ''kyōka'' poet, and ''ukiyo-e'' artist of Japanese folklore. Born to a family of high-ranking servants to the Tokugawa shogunate, he was trained by Kanō school artists Kanō Gyokuen and Kanō Chikanobu, although he was never officially recognized as a Kanō school painter. Art career After retiring from service to the shogunate, he became a teacher to numerous apprentices in poetry and painting. He was among the first to apply Kanō techniques to ''ukiyo-e'' printmaking, inventing key new techniques along the way, such as ''fuki-bokashi'', which allowed for replicating color gradations. Most famously, he was the teacher of Kitagawa Utamaro and Utagawa Toyoharu. Sekien is best known for his mass-pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mica
Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is common in igneous and metamorphic rock and is occasionally found as small flakes in sedimentary rock. It is particularly prominent in many granites, pegmatites, and schists, and "books" (large individual crystals) of mica several feet across have been found in some pegmatites. Micas are used in products such as drywalls, paints, fillers, especially in parts for automobiles, roofing and shingles, as well as in electronics. The mineral is used in cosmetics and food to add "shimmer" or "frost." Properties and structure The mica group is composed of 37 phyllosilicate minerals. All crystallize in the monoclinic system, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in structure but vary in chemical composition. Micas are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yakusha-e
''Yakusha-e'' (役者絵), often referred to as "actor prints" in English, are Japanese woodblock prints or, rarely, paintings, of kabuki actors, particularly those done in the ''ukiyo-e'' style popular through the Edo period (1603–1867) and into the beginnings of the 20th century. Most strictly, the term ''yakusha-e'' refers solely to portraits of individual artists (or sometimes pairs, as seen in this work by Sharaku). However, prints of kabuki scenes and of other elements of the world of the theater are very closely related, and were more often than not produced and sold alongside portraits. ''Ukiyo-e'' images were almost exclusively images of urban life; the vast majority that were not landscapes were devoted to depicting courtesans, sumo, or kabuki. Realistic detail, inscriptions, the availability of playbills from the period, and a number of other resources have allowed many prints to be analyzed and identified in great detail. Scholars have been able to identify the subj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katsukawa Shunkō I
Katsukawa Shunkō I ( ja, 勝川 春好; 1743 – 1 December 1812) was a Japanese artist who designed ukiyo-e-style woodblock prints and paintings in Edo (modern Tokyo). He was a student of Katsukawa Shunshō, and is generally credited with designing the first large-head actor portraits (ōkubi-e). As his teacher did, Shunkō used a jar-shaped seal and was known as ("little jar"). At 45, the right-handed Shunkō became partially paralyzed and ceased designing prints, although he continued producing paintings with his left hand. Life and career Shunkō lived in Nihonbashi Hasegawachō in Edo (modern Tokyo) and was a student of Katsukawa Shunshō—possibly the master's first. His earliest known work are the illustrations to the book ''Talks about Debut Plays'' (''Kaomise shibai banashi'', 1766). From about 1771, he began to design ''yakusha-e'' actor prints, which he signed with a small jar-shaped seal that appeared next to a larger one by his master; from this h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katsukawa School
The Katsukawa school (勝川派, ''-ha'') was a school of Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' art, founded by Miyagawa Shunsui. It specialized in paintings (''nikuhitsu-ga'') and prints of kabuki actors (''yakusha-e''), sumo wrestlers, and beautiful women (''bijin-ga''). The painter Miyagawa Shunsui changed his surname to Katsukawa. One of his students, Katsukawa Shunshō, took his surname and abandoned the school's tradition of painting well-dressed beauties in favour of ''yakusha-e'' portraits of kabuki actors, a domain once dominated by the Torii school. This new focus revived the actor print, which had lost popularity after Suzuki Harunobu's portraits of beauties rose to prominence in the late 1760s. Shunshō introduced the ''ōkubi-e'' "large-headed picture" in the 1760s. He and other members of the Katsukawa school, such as Shunkō, popularized ''ōkubi yakusha-e'' prints and the dusting of mica in the backgrounds to produce a luxurious glittering effect. Shunsui was the son and stu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katsukawa Shunshō
Shunshō Katsukawa ( ja, 勝川 春章; 1726 – 19 January 1793) was a Japanese painter and printmaker in the ''ukiyo-e'' style, and the leading artist of the Katsukawa school. Shunshō studied under Miyagawa Shunsui, son and student of Miyagawa Chōshun, both equally famous and talented ukiyo-e artists. Shunshō is most well known for introducing a new form of ''yakusha-e'', prints depicting Kabuki actors. However, his ''bijin-ga'' (images of beautiful women) paintings, while less famous, are said by some scholars to be "the best in the second half of the 8th/nowiki> century".Paine, Robert Treat and Alexander Soper (1955). ''The Art and Architecture of Japan''. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 263. Biography Shunshō first came to Edo to study haiku and painting. He became a noted printmaker of actors with his first works dating from 1760. Though originally a member of the Torii school, he soon broke away and began his own style, which would later be dubbed the Ka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
