Women Coming Ashore from a Pleasure Boat on the Sumida River
c. 1785
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban triptych
Dimensions
Right sheet: 39.4 × 26.4 cm (15 9/16 × 10 7/16 in.); Center sheet: 39.3 × 26 cm (15 1/2 × 10 1/4 in.); Left sheet: 39.2 × 26.1 cm (15 7/16 × 10 5/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
21638
Art Historical Context
Torii Kiyonaga's *Women Coming Ashore from Pleasure Boat on the Sum River* (c. 1785) captures a lively moment of Edo-period leisure along Tokyo's iconic waterway. This color woodblock print triptych depicts elegant women disembarking from a boat, their flowing kimonos and graceful poses evoking the "floating world" of ukiyo-e—Japan's vibrant art of everyday pleasures, theater, and beauty. Kiyonaga, a leading figure in the Torii school, mastered bijin-ga (images of beautiful women), blending realism with idealized femininity during the late 18th century's cultural boom. Printed on three oban s...
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...