Woman kneeling before mirror, Hashiguchi Goyō

Archive Label date unknown:
The majority of Goyo’s paintings and prints are of bijin (beautiful women), a subject popular for centuries in Japan. However, Goyo based his prints on brush or pencil drawings from live models, a practice he acquired from his training in Western-style painting.

In this print we see a woman kneeling in front of a mirror getting ready for the day. Her hair is slightly unkempt, and there are lines under her eyes. Her thin gown suggests that it must be summer. The solid three-dimen sional treatment of her body, the realism of her pose and portrait, and her direct, pensive gaze are Western stylistic elements. The flat, uniformly colored areas, the emphasis on textile design, and the use of mica dust in the background derive from the Japanese print tradition.

Exhibition Label:
Tradition and Modernity: Japanese Art of the Early Twentieth Century," Jan-2005, Hillary Pedersen
Hashiguchi Goyō studied Japanese-style painting (nihonga, see the painting in this exhibition) under Hashimoto Gahō and Western-style painting under Kuroda Seiki. Goyō produced only a few works, almost all of them paintings and prints of bijin (beautiful women), a genre popular for centuries in Japan. He was, however, one of the first to infuse the genre with Western elements, thus giving new life to the bijin tradition.

This print depicts a woman kneeling in front of a mirror, preparing herself for her morning make-up. Her hair is slightly unkempt, and there are lines under her eyes. Her thin, transparent haori covering suggests the heat of the summer season. The solid, three-dimensional treatment of her body, the realism of her pose and her pensive, individualized face are Western artistic conventions, while the flat, uniformly colored areas, the emphasis on textile design, and the application of silvery mica dust on the background derive from Japanese traditions. Women during this period, as depicted in this print, are often characterized as passive, languid figures who seem wearied by the struggle between traditional and modern values.

Archive Label date unknown:
Hashiguchi Goyō was one of the last great traditional Japanese woodcut print artists. He studied both Japanese and Western-style painting and so his work synthesizes Western and Japanese elements. The majority of Goyō's paintings and prints are of bijin (beautiful women), a subject popular for centuries in Japan. However, Goyō based his prints on brush or pencil drawings from live models, a practice he acquired from his training in Western-style painting.

In this print we see a woman kneeling in front of a mirror and preparing herself for morning make-up. Her hair is slightly unkempt, and there are lines under her eyes. Her thin haori gown suggests that it must be summer. The solid three-dimensional treatment of her body, the realism of her pose and portrait, and the direct, pensive gaze towards the viewer are Western stylistic elements. Meanwhile, the flat, uniformly colored areas, the emphasis on textile design, and the use of mica dust in the background derive from the Japanese print tradition.