Yoshitoshi 芳年: Looking Expectant: the Appearance of a Fireman’s Wife in the Kaei (1848-1854) era じれったそう　嘉永年間　鳶妻之風俗

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 芳年 (1839-1892)
Title:  Looking Expectant: the Appearance of a Fireman’s Wife in the Kaei (1848-1854) era じれったそう　嘉永年間　鳶妻之風俗

Series: Thirty-two Types of Women (Fuzoku sanjû-ni sô)
Date: 1888

We see the wife of a fireman looking rather expectantly towards the door. She is waiting for him to arrive home and has started a teapot to welcome him home. She holds a long tobacco pipe and her clothes are rather informal, worn when one is at home. Her teeth are also blackened, appropriate for a married woman of the time. The fireman’s distinctively patterned padded coat hangs on the wall behind her. The woman is more than a “housewife”, as she is titled an “anego” here, a polite form of address for a woman in a position of authority. John Stevenson wrote that the wife of the leader of a group of firemen could become involved in his work and would necessarily be tough and forceful and the younger firemen would look to her for leadership and guidance (Yoshitoshi’s Women, pg. 66). The three-color cartouche is generally taken to signify a “First Edition”. 

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Untrimmed and unbacked. 
Dimensions: ôban (37.4 x 25.3 cm)
Publisher: Tsunashima Kamekichi
Literature: John Stevenson, Yoshitoshi's Women, 1995, no. 19. Keyes 1983, p. 482, no. 503.9; Segi 1985, p. 93, no. 103.18; van den Ing & Schaap 1992, p. 140, no. 63.19; Akita Museum of Modern Art 1999, p. 45, no. 190; Ota Memorial Museum of Art 2009, p. 14, no. 1.19.

Signature: Yoshitoshi

SKU: YOT920