A Beauty Walking
17th century
Medium
Hand-colored woodblock print; o-oban, sumizuri-e
Dimensions
56.8 × 27.9 cm (22 3/8 × 11 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
6813
Art Historical Context
**A Beauty Walking** by Sugimura Jihei is a captivating 17th-century-colored woodblock print from early Ukiyo-e, meaning "pictures of the floating." This o-oban sized work (56.8 × 27.9 cm) the genre's focus on elegant women, or *bijin-ga*, capturing grace and poise of a strolling beauty in everyday attire. Jihei, during the late 1600s in Edo (modern Tokyo), was a skilled follower of pioneers like Hishikawa Moronobu, blending realism with stylized charm to depict urban life and fashion. The print's *sumizuri-e* technique—monochrome black ink printing followed by vibrant hand-coloring—highlight...