Yoshitoshi 芳年: Looking relaxed: The appearance of a Kyoto Geisha of the Kansei era

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
Title: Looking relaxed: The appearance of a Kyoto Geisha of the Kansei era” (1789-1801) しだらなさそう Shidaranasaso kansei nenkan kyoto geiko fuzoku

Series: Thirty-two Types of Women風俗三十二相 (Fuzoku sanjû-ni sô)
Date: 1888

This happily exhausted Kyoto dancer takes her rest, her eyes closed in a seeming reverie; perhaps she is going over the events of the evening? An empty bowl indicates she has enjoyed a snack, and we see she began folding origami cranes, but now is fully relaxed, her wrist flopping languidly to the side.According to Stevenson, the word “Shidaranasa-so” also has connotations of sexy coquettishness, and we get that feeling here. Her hair remains perfectly in order, but the rest of her mien signals relaxation. The white of her collar has been blindprinted.

With the three-colored cartouche that indicates an early (”first”) edition.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Untrimmed and unbacked. A few minor smudges and an unidentified collector’s seal in the verso margin.

Dimensions: ôban (37. x 25.4 cm)
Publisher: Tsunashima Kamekichi
Literature: Roger Keyes, Courage and Silence, 1983, p. 481, no. 503.2; Shinichi Segi, Yoshitoshi the Splendid Decadent, 1985, p. 92, no. 103.3; Eric van den Ing & Robert Schaap, Beauty and Violence, 1992, p. 139, no. 63.2; John Stevenson, Yoshitoshi's Women, 1995, no. 2; Amy Reigle Newland gen. ed., A Courtesan's Day: Hour by Hour, 2004, p. 12; Ota Memorial Museum of Art, Yoshitoshi: 32 Aspects of Women and 100 Aspects of the Moon, 2009, p. 10, no. 1.2; Amy Reigle Newland & Chris Uhlenbeck, Yoshitoshi: Masterpieces from the Ed Fries Collection, 2011, p. 142, no. 107.

Signature: Yoshitoshi

SKU: YOT915