Reading and Playing Shamisen in Winter
late 18th to early 19th century
Medium
Color woodblock print; surimono
Dimensions
21.8 × 19.6 cm (8 5/8 × 7 3/4 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
81411
Art Historical Context
In the intimate scene of *Reading and Playing Shamisen Winter*, Utagawaokuni I captures a moment of leisure amid Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). as a *surimono*—a luxurious, privately commissioned woodblock print often exchanged as New Year's greetings—this late 18th- to early 19th-century work reflects the ukiyo-e tradition, or "pictures of floating world," celebrating everyday beauty and transient pleasures. Toyokuni, a master of the Utagawa school renowned for his vibrant actor portraits and bijin-ga (images of beautiful women), here depicts figures engaged in reading and strumming the sham...
About the Artist
Utagawa Toyokuni I · 1777–1835
Japanese, 1777–1835