Kakiuchi Seiyō
Flutist, 1920s-30s
Hanging scroll; ink, mineral pigments, and shell powder on silk, in silk mounting
Overall size 56 x 25½ in. (142.5 x 65 cm)
Image size 17¼ x 20¼ in. (44 x 51 cm)
Image size 17¼ x 20¼ in. (44 x 51 cm)
T-1062
Signed at top left Seiyō and sealed Kōkan Comes with the original fitted paulownia-wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside Okiku and signed inside the lid Seiyōga (Painted by Seiyō), followed...
Signed at top left Seiyō and sealed Kōkan
Comes with the original fitted paulownia-wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside Okiku and signed inside the lid Seiyōga (Painted by Seiyō), followed by a seal
This evocation of the elegant world of the Edo-period pleasure quarters is a skillful blend of Japanese pigments and brush techniques with some of the conventions of Western formal portraiture. A young courtesan named Okiku (Chrysanthemum), playing on a six-holed yokobue or side-blown bamboo flute, is shown in three-quarter profile in such a way as to draw attention to the outlines of her elegant coiffure. She sits on the floor with her left knee raised, wearing a kimono dyed using the kanoko-shibori technique—yielding a pattern of small dots—under a richly embroidered outer kimono. Her face and hair are depicted with an extremely delicate touch, making sparing use of gofun, a pigment manufactured from crushed shell.
The female artist Kakiuchi Seiyō was a student of Kaburagi Kiyokata, one of the founders of the twentieth-century genre of bijinga (Paintings of beautiful women). She was a member of Tokyo’s influential Tatsumi Gakai (Southeast Painting Society) and a frequent participant in the government-sponsored Teiten national exhibitions, but stopped showing her work after World War II.
Comes with the original fitted paulownia-wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside Okiku and signed inside the lid Seiyōga (Painted by Seiyō), followed by a seal
This evocation of the elegant world of the Edo-period pleasure quarters is a skillful blend of Japanese pigments and brush techniques with some of the conventions of Western formal portraiture. A young courtesan named Okiku (Chrysanthemum), playing on a six-holed yokobue or side-blown bamboo flute, is shown in three-quarter profile in such a way as to draw attention to the outlines of her elegant coiffure. She sits on the floor with her left knee raised, wearing a kimono dyed using the kanoko-shibori technique—yielding a pattern of small dots—under a richly embroidered outer kimono. Her face and hair are depicted with an extremely delicate touch, making sparing use of gofun, a pigment manufactured from crushed shell.
The female artist Kakiuchi Seiyō was a student of Kaburagi Kiyokata, one of the founders of the twentieth-century genre of bijinga (Paintings of beautiful women). She was a member of Tokyo’s influential Tatsumi Gakai (Southeast Painting Society) and a frequent participant in the government-sponsored Teiten national exhibitions, but stopped showing her work after World War II.