Two Women Washing Their Hair
c. 1767/68
Medium
Color woodblock print; chuban
Dimensions
28.3 × 21 cm (11 1/8 × 8 1/4 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
86438
Art Historical Context
Suzuki Harunobu's *Two Women Washing Their Hair* (. 1767/68) is a delicate color woodblock print in the chuban format, measuring 28.3 × 21 cm. This intimate scene captures two women in a private moment of daily grooming, their flowing hair and gentle poses rendered with Harunobu's signature elegance. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Arts Asia department, it exemplifies the ukiyo-e tradition—the "pictures of the floating world"—that celebrated beauty, transience, and everyday pleasures in Edo-period Japan (1603–1868). Harunobu (1725–1770), a pioneering master of ukiyo-e, revolutionized...
About the Artist
Suzuki Harunobu · 1725–1770
Suzuki Harunobu (c. 1725-1770) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who revolutionized woodblock printing by developing nishiki-e—full-color prints using multiple woodblocks—in 1765. Before Harunobu, Japanese prints were limited to two or three colors; his innovation unleashed the entire artist's palette, transforming ukiyo-e into the vibrant art form that would later captivate Western artists from Manet...