Nature/Natural
Harunobu is associated with the popularization of the color printing process nishiki-e (“brocade pictures”) and is well known for his graceful depictions of petite figures. These woodblock prints come from a single album in his book illustration tour de force, a five-volume set of the beautiful courtesans in Edo’s pleasure district. Calligraphic script names each woman and emblems on her sleeves identify the house to which she belonged. Many courtesans cultivated skills of great refinement, and each page of this series depicts a seated woman engaged in a solitary pastime, such as writing a letter, playing a musical instrument, or appreciating flowers. The 17-syllable poems accompanying these figures allude to snow, suggesting that these prints all belong to the 5th album that is dedicated to winter. The four other albums in the set similarly concentrate on seasonal themes (vol. 1, spring; vol. 2-3, summer; vol. 4, autumn), playing on the traditional Asian theme of equating the ephemeral beauty of women with the transitory seasons of the natural world.
Harunobu is associated with the popularization of the color printing process nishiki-e (“brocade pictures”) and is well known for his graceful depictions of petite figures. These woodblock prints come from a single album in his book illustration tour de force, a five-volume set of the beautiful courtesans in Edo’s pleasure district. Calligraphic script names each woman and emblems on her sleeves identify the house to which she belonged. Many courtesans cultivated skills of great refinement, and each page of this series depicts a seated woman engaged in a solitary pastime, such as writing a letter, playing a musical instrument, or appreciating flowers. The 17-syllable poems accompanying these figures allude to snow, suggesting that these prints all belong to the 5th album that is dedicated to winter. The four other albums in the set similarly concentrate on seasonal themes (vol. 1, spring; vol. 2-3, summer; vol. 4, autumn), playing on the traditional Asian theme of equating the ephemeral beauty of women with the transitory seasons of the natural world.
Exhibition Label:
"Nature/Natural," Feb-2011, Kris Ercums
Harunobu is associated with the popularization of the color printing process nishiki-e (“brocade pictures”) and is well known for his graceful depictions of petite figures. These woodblock prints come from a single album in his book illustration tour de force, a five-volume set of the beautiful courtesans in Edo’s pleasure district. Calligraphic script names each woman and emblems on her sleeves identify the house to which she belonged. Many courtesans cultivated skills of great refinement, and each page of this series depicts a seated woman engaged in a solitary pastime, such as writing a letter, playing a musical instrument, or appreciating flowers. The 17-syllable poems accompanying these figures allude to snow, suggesting that these prints all belong to the 5th album that is dedicated to winter. The four other albums in the set similarly concentrate on seasonal themes (vol. 1, spring; vol. 2-3, summer; vol. 4, autumn), playing on the traditional Asian theme of equating the ephemeral beauty of women with the transitory seasons of the natural world.
Archive Label date unknown:
The artist Harunobu is credited with creating the demand for nishikie, or multi-color "brocade pictures," as well as for popularizing images of delicate, childlike beauties such as seen here. Harunobu's compendium of five volumes about the Yoshiwara pleasure district's famous courtesans shows beautiful women at a variety of leisure activities. High-ranking courtesans were expected to display skills in calligraphy, poetry, music, fashion, and incense identification. The skill of using incense requires a connoisseur's palate to distinguish delicate scents. The incense game (ko awase) had its roots in Heian court culture (794-1185), and featured expensive accessories such as laquer boxes, with silver and ivory containers to hold silvers of the valuable fragrance. The incense was warmed over a small burner for participants in the game to guess the fragrance.
This page comes from the winter-themed Volume 5, in which each courtesan is paired with an accompanying seventeen-syllable haiku poem on the subject of snow. The poems seem to bear no direct reference to the particular courtesans or their affiliated houses. And the fragile-looking, childlike women themselves were relegated to the realm of idealized leisure, which had little to do with the harsh realities of the life of a "working girl.
