Katsushika Hokukon: Surimono: beauty with child and white origami bird (Sold)

Artist: Katsushika Hokukon
Title: Surimono: beauty with child and white origami bird
Date: ca.1815

Hokukon, a student of Hokusai, describes a scene with a woman and child. The beauty seems overcome with frustration; she is tearing off what she has written on a long sheet of paper with her teeth, a crumpled batch of writing is on the ground at her feet. She holds a calligraphy brush in her hand and turns to watch the child beside her, who is attempting to animate an origami bird. The kimono hanging on a rack is decorated with waves and three seabirds; two of which seem to be watching the work of the child. The woman wears a kirimaegami hair style which became popular during the Bunka –Bunsei Period (1804-29).The accompanying poem by Kômori-an Inemaro has a play pun on the word “chigiri,” meaning a promise for marriage as she might be writing in her letter as well as meaning to tear off as she has done with her teeth. Hokukon did very few surimono; there is a painting by him in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.

Signature: Hokukon Nyoren

SKU: SUR021