Courtesans Drawn in Osaka style (right), Kyoto style (center), and Edo style (left), from "Courtesans of the Three Capitals: A Set of Three (Sanga no tsu keisei sanpukutsui)"
c. 1748
Medium
Color woodblock print; uncut hosoban triptych, benizuri-e
Dimensions
30 × 44 cm (11 13/16 × 17 3/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
19662
Art Historical Context
Okumura Masanobu's *Courtesans Drawn Osaka style (right), style (center), and style (left)*, from the series *Courtesans of Three Capitals: A of Three*, captures the glamorous world of Japan's pleasure districts around 1748. This uncut hosoban triptych—a narrow-format woodblock print preserved as three joined sheets—showcases elegant courtesans from Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo (modern Tokyo), playfully contrasting regional fashions and beauty ideals during the Edo period (1603–1868As a master of ukiyo-e, the "pictures of the floating world" genre, Masanobu celebrated urban pleasures like theater and...
About the Artist
Okumura Masanobu · 1686–1764
Japanese, 1686–1764