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Woman in a Black Kimono

1783–89
Not on view
Judging from her garments and hairstyle, this woman, posed alone against a blank background, is probably the daughter or young wife of a wealthy merchant family. The black kimono nicely offsets the white obi decorated with spring flower motifs. The cuffs and hems of the undergarment add elements of visual frisson in an otherwise elegant and subdued painting.

Katsukawa Shunshō is perhaps better known for his prints of Kabuki actors, which he started producing in about 1765; he and his pupils dominated this area of print production for a generation. Later in his career he achieved renown for his meticulously rendered paintings of beauties. The use of a distinctive handwritten seal (kaō) allows the painting to be dated to the mid to late 1780s.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 勝川春章筆　立姿美人図
  • Title: Woman in a Black Kimono
  • Artist: Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章 (Japanese, 1726–1792)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: 1783–89
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk
  • Dimensions: Image: 33 1/2 × 11 1/4 in. (85.1 × 28.6 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 67 11/16 × 15 7/8 in. (172 × 40.4 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 67 11/16 × 17 13/16 in. (172 × 45.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.300.139
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
Picture Book on the Music of the Pine Trees (Ehon matsu no shirabe) 絵本松のしらべ, Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章 Japanese, Woodblock printed book; ink and color on paper, Japan
Picture Book on the Music of the Pine Trees (Ehon matsu no shirabe) 絵本松のしらべ
Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章
1795 (Kansei 7)
Helmet (<i>Zukinnari Kabuto</i>), Iron, lacquer, Japanese
Helmet (Zukinnari Kabuto)
Japanese
16th century
Portrait of Shun'oku Myōha, Unidentified artist Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk, Japan
Portrait of Shun'oku Myōha
Unidentified artist
ca. 1383
The Actor Sawamura Sōjūrō III as the Kumano Pilgrim Jissaku, actually Taira no Shigemori, Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章 Japanese, Left sheet of a triptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, Japan
The Actor Sawamura Sōjūrō III as the Kumano Pilgrim Jissaku, actually Taira no Shigemori
Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章
1785 (Tenmei 5), 11th month
Armor (<i>Gusoku</i>), Saotome Ietada Japanese, Iron, lacquer, silk, gilt copper, Japanese
Armor (Gusoku)
Armorer Helmet bowl signed Saotome Ietada
Armorer Breastplate inscribed inside, Myōchin Munesuke
16th and 18th centuries

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