Young Lady and Matron, from "Girls of Fukagawa - A Triptych (Fukagawa musume sanpukutsui)"
c. 1750s
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban, benizuri-e
Dimensions
28.3 × 14 cm (11 1/8 × 5 1/2 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
19850
Art Historical Context
Torii Kiyomitsu I (1693–1756), a master of the Torii school, created *Young Lady and Matron* around the 1750s as part of the triptych *Girls of Fukagawa (Fukagawa musume sanpukutsui)*. This intimate woodblock print captures two elegant women from the vibrant Fukagawa district of Edo (modern Tokyo), a riverside area famed for its teahouses, festivals, and pleasure quarters. Kiyomitsu's work embodies the ukiyo-e tradition—"pictures of the floating world"—celebrating fleeting pleasures and beauty amid urban life during Japan's Edo period. Printed in the narrow hosoban format (28.3 × 14 cm), this...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyomitsu I · 1735–1785
Japanese, 1735–1785