↗Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · early 1830s
South Wind, Clear Sky, from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai
Gift of Mrs. Ralph King · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image licence: CC0 · Museum record & image source ↗
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · 1806
Woman Reading a Letter (from the series Seven Episodes in the Life of Komachi in the Floating World)
- Date
- 1806
- Medium
- color woodblock print
- Dimensions
- Overall: 35.6 x 23.8 cm (14 x 9 3/8 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 ↗
ABOUT THIS WORK
Woman Reading a Letter (from the series Seven Episodes in the Life of Komachi in the Floating World) is a representative work in our Kitagawa Utamaro guide. The catalogue records color woodblock print. Museum attribution. The linked artist guide places it alongside other works from the artist’s career.
Original educational overview · based on the linked museum recordPlace in the artist’s career
Compare the face and gesture in the 1793 design, the fashionable figure of the later 1790s, and the letter reader of 1806. Outline and patterned dress remain crucial within colour woodblock printing. Ask how much psychological individuality comes from a small turn of the head rather than naturalistic shading.
The artist’s practice
Artist-wide context; individual works may differ.
Media and surface
Multi-block printing separates the key outline from areas of patterned colour.
Marks and structure
Slender figures, closely framed faces and small gestures carry social and emotional distinctions.
Palette and light
Flat colour and fabric patterns are often more important than naturalistic flesh modelling.
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