Two Geisha Struggling for a Letter (Fumi no arasoi), from the series "Flowers of Nakasu (Nakasu no hana)"
Torii Kiyonaga
c. 1781
Medium
Color woodblock print; chuban
Dimensions
25.7 × 18.8 cm (10 1/8 × 7 7/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
117336
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...