Two Geisha and Porter in Wind and Rain at Night

Print

-

Drexel Founding Collection

#1998, Photographed by Mary Elizabeth Kulesa, 2023: Recto
#1998, Photographed by Mary Elizabeth Kulesa, 2023

Recto

Name/Title

Two Geisha and Porter in Wind and Rain at Night

Entry/Object ID

1998

Category

Print

Acquisition

Source (if not Accessioned)

James W. Paul, Jr., Philadelphia

Notes

Date: 1969 Credit Line: Gift of James W. Paul, Jr. to the Drexel Library then transferred to The Drexel Collection Means of Accession: Transfer Source: James W. Paul, Jr. Donated to the Drexel Library 1906-1907

Made/Created

Artist

Kitagawa Utamaro

Date made

1801

Place

Country

Japan

Continent

Asia

Dimensions

Height

9-5/8 in

Width

14-3/8 in

Exhibitions

Curator Pick of the Month
Pictures of the Floating World: Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Curator Pick of the Month

Label

Kitagawa Utamaro was a Japanese artist who was born in 1753 and died in 1806. Utamaro is one of the most recognizable ukiyo-e designers. Ukiyo-e prints greatly influenced Western artists as well as the west’s view of Japanese art. Utamaro’s images often depict women with elongated features and exaggerated proportions. In this particular image, a man holding a lantern is escorting two geishas through the rain at night. This piece is part of Volume 2 of “Ehon Shiki no Hana” (Flowers of the Four Seasons.)

General Notes

Note

Woodcut prints were typically carved from cherry blocks. Each color of a design had to have a separate block carved, except for the Japanese ukiyo-e artists who were able to print multiple colors from one block by painting the design using brushes and subtle coloring. The earliest European examples of woodblock prints were playing cards and religious images around the end of the 14th century. Woodcuts were also the main form of book illustration until the end of the 16th century. (Trench, Materials & Techniques in the Decorative Arts, 2000) Framed by Spitz, 1971.