Spring Outing, from the series "A Collection of Contemporary Beauties of the Pleasure Quarters (Tosei yuri bijin awase)"
c. 1783
Medium
Color woodblock print; right sheet of oban diptych
Dimensions
37.9 × 25.3 cm (14 15/16 × 10 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
22690
Art Historical Context
**Spring Outing**, a captivating color woodblock print by Torii Kiyonaga around 1783, forms the right sheet of an *oban* diptych—the standard large format for ukiyo-e prints popular in Edo-period Japan (modern Tokyo). Part of the series *A Collection of Contemporary Beauties of the Pleasure Qu (Tosei yuri bijin awase)*, it depicts elegant women enjoying a spring outing, likely in the Yoshiwara pleasure district, a celebrated hub of entertainment and fashion. Kiyonaga, a leading figure in the Torii school of ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world"), masterfully captures the transient joys of ...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonaga · 1752–1815
Torii Kiyonaga, born Sekiguchi Shinsuke in 1752 in Uraga, Sagami Province, was the son of an Edo bookseller who owned tenements near a bustling fish market. At age 14 in 1765, he began his apprenticeship under Torii Kiyomitsu, the third-generation head of the prestigious Torii school of ukiyo-e, renowned for kabuki theater illustrations and signage. Adopted into the Torii family, Kiyonaga succeede...