Yoshitoshi 芳年: “Looking Warm: the appearance of an urban widow of the Kansei Era” (1789-1801)

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 芳年 (1839-1892)

Title: “Looking Warm: the appearance of an urban widow of the Kansei Era” (1789-1801)
Series: Thirty-two Types of Women 風俗三十二相 (Fuzoku sanjû-ni sô)  Date: 1888, March

A woman is absorbed in her novel, which is propped against her cloth-covered kotatsu. Atop the warm kotatsu her cat is sound asleep, lending an air of coziness and ease. Identified as the widow of a merchant, we note her shaved eyebrows and her luxurious clothing, which indicates that she has been left in comfort. She raises her cloth-covered hand to her cheek, either to turn the page or as a gesture of suspense, or perhaps both. Yoshitoshi has interestingly chosen a rather modernist and indirect angle for the cat, so our all of our attention is turned towards the woman. The cat’s fur features blindprinting.

Condition: Good/very good impression; very good color and condition.

Dimensions: ôban (37 x 25 cm)
Publisher: Tsunashima Kamekichi
Literature: John Stevenson, Yoshitoshi's Women, 1995, no. 4. Keyes 1983, p. 481, no. 503.5; Segi 1985, p. 92, no. 103.5; van den Ing & Schaap 1992, p. 139, no. 63.4; Akita Museum of Modern Art 1999, p. 45, no. 188; Ota Memorial Museum of Art 2009, p. 10, no. 1.4. See the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.
Signature: Yoshitoshi

SKU: YOT940