↗Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · early 1830s
South Wind, Clear Sky, from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image licence: CC0 · Museum record & image source ↗
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · c. 1790
Courtesans Promenading on the Nakanochō
- Date
- c. 1790
- Medium
- triptych of color woodblock prints
- Dimensions
- Each: 37.8 x 25.8 cm (14 7/8 x 10 3/16 in.)
- Country / context
- Japan
- Movement / tradition
- Japanese art and printmaking
- Collection
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Pathway
- Japanese art and printmaking ↗
FROM THE MUSEUM
Nakanochō was the main street in Yoshiwara, a famous walled pleasure district that housed as many as 4,000 courtesans. In the early evening, elaborately dressed courtesans accompanied by attendants promenaded on the central thoroughfare, as in this scene. The open buildings with shop curtains hanging from their eaves are teahouses, establishments where men could arrange appointments with courtesans of the more prestigious brothels.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0Place in the artist’s career
Follow the shift from a procession around 1790 to the tense theatrical confrontation of 1797 and the broad riverside gathering of 1811. Colour prints can isolate a recognisable actor or distribute attention across many figures. Multi-sheet format changes how the eye travels without changing the basic relief-printing process.
The artist’s practice
Artist-wide context; individual works may differ.
Media and surface
Commercial woodblock designs were realised with publishers, carvers and printers.
Marks and structure
Recognisable poses, patterned costume and stage-like groupings identify actors and fashionable types.
Palette and light
Printed colour patterns articulate clothing and status rather than reproduce every optical effect.
A MOMENT TO LOOK
Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?
Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.Follow a connection.
Explore the tradition ↗↗
↗Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · 1833
Driving Rain at Shōno, from Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaidō
Utagawa Hiroshige
↗Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · c. 1793
The Flirtatious Type, from Ten Types in the Physiognomy of Women
Kitagawa Utamaro
↗Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · c. 1830
A Low Tide Pentaptych
Utagawa Kuniyoshi