Young Man Dressed as Mendicant Monk
c. 1755
Medium
Color woodblock print; hosoban, benizuri-e
Dimensions
30.5 × 14.3 cm (12 × 5 1/2 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
8951
Art Historical Context
In the vibrant world of 18th-century Edo (modern-day Tokyo), Okumura Masanobu's *Young Man Dressed as Mendicant Monk* (c. 1755) captures the playful spirit of ukiyo-e, the "pictures of the floating world" that celebrated urban life, theater, and fashion. This color woodblock print, measuring a slender 30.5 × 14.3 cm in the hosoban format—a narrow, vertical half-sheet popular for affordable single-sheet prints—depicts a stylish young man in the humble robes of a mendicant monk, blending high fashion with theatrical role-playing. Masanobu, a pioneering printmaker active from the 1710s to 1760s,...
About the Artist
Okumura Masanobu · 1686–1764
Japanese, 1686–1764