Kiyochika: Pentagonal Hall at the Second Domestic Industrial Exposition (Sold)

Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika
Title: Pentagonal Hall at the Second Domestic Industrial Exposition (dai-ni-kai nai kangyô hakurankai no uchi gokaku-dô)
Date: 1881

We see two types of women and children here; one in traditional kimono walking among the small trees and the other in western dress, her head covered with a veil and a boy with a hat. They walk towards the Pentagon Hall (Gokaku-do) in Ueno Park where a series of five expositions were held during August - November, starting in 1877. In front of the tall old pine tree a modern building among newly planted small trees. The composition seems to represent Kiyochika’s endeavor to depict Japan’s transition to modernization in Meiji Period.

On the exhibition ground of the Ueno Park a woman in Western style dress, a veil on her head and a boy walk towards the hall. Other visitors can be seen among the trees.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: ôban
Publisher: Fukuda Kumajirô
Literature: Henry Smith:Kiyochika Artist of Meiji Japan, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1988. Ill. p..
Signature: Kobayashi Kiyochika hitsu (writing in cursive style is carved and printed on the lawn at the right bottom); his name is printed at the bottom of three rectangles on the right outside the picture.

SKU: KYC277