Art Institute of Chicago

Courtesan Walking

Kaigetsudo AnchiLinkedCulture matchlcp-2a194162835b

Date: c. 1714
Medium: Hand-colored woodblock print; tan-e, vertical o-oban
Culture: Japan
Department: Arts of Asia
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID: 127635

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

Woodblock prints are regarded as the most characteristic expression of the Japanese artistic genius. Great quantities of this popular art form, called ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world"), were made during the Edo period (1603-1868) and sold inexpensively to a pleasure-seeking public captivated by Kabuki theater, sumo wrestling, and the brothel districts. Prints such as Kaigetsudo's hand-painted Courtesan display a freedom and originality that were not possible in the rendering of tradition-bound religious images. The beautiful woman clutches her billowing kimono, which has been decorated with the words of a poem whose author is depicted in the lining.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
Provenance: Jacques Doucet (1853–1929; also Jacques-Antoine Doucet), Paris; sold to Gilbert Edmund Fuller (1882–1960), Boston; sold to Kate Sturges Buckingham (1858–1937), Chicago, May 1922; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1925.