This triptych encapsulates what happens when cultures meet and artists try to capture the collision of indigenous and imported fashions. A Western woman in a capacious skirt, cape, and bonnet plays the Japanese children’s game of battledores (a forerunner of badminton) with an elegantly dressed Japanese townswoman. Merchants in top hats get on with business as Japanese, Chinese, and Middle Eastern servants do the manual lifting. The Japanese were shocked (but also clearly fascinated) by the dress and behavior of American women and, more generally, by the relations between Western men and women, which differed greatly from Japanese norms.
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Medium:Triptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban
Dimensions:14 3/8 x 29 1/4 in. (36.5 x 74.3 cm)
Classification:Prints
Credit Line:Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1959
Accession Number:JP3245
Signature: Gountei Sadahide ga
Lincoln Kirstein American, New York (until 1959; donated to MMA).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," May 20–September 7, 1986.
Santa Fe. New Mexico Museum of Art. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," June 28–August 3, 1987.
Portland Art Museum. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," August 28–October 4, 1987.
Billings. Yellowstone Art Museum. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," October 31, 1987–January 3, 1988.
Santa Fe Community College Art Gallery. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," February 13–March 20, 1988.
Albany Institute of History & Art. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," April 16–July 17, 1988.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," August 6–November 6, 1988.
Charleston. Museum at Sunrise. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," November 26, 1988–January 1, 1989.
Pullman. Washington State University. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," January 21–February 26, 1989.
Champaign. Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," March 11–April 23, 1989.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," March 13–June 18, 1989.
Syracuse. Everson Museum of Art. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," July 8–August 13, 1989.
Storrs. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut. "Impressions of a New Civilization: The Lincoln Kirstein Collection of Japanese Prints, 1860–1912," September 2–October 15, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japan: A History of Style," March 8, 2021–April 24, 2022.
Meech-Pekarik, Julia. The World of the Meiji Print: Impressions of a New Civilization. New York: Weatherhill, 1986, p. 28, fig. 24.
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