Katsukawa Shuncho
fl. 1781 - 1801
Threads of Modern Encounters: 11, Sash [green]
(Imayo irokumi no ito: Obi)
the eleventh design from an album of twelve prints; a young girl wearing a pale grey furisode (with 'swinging sleeves') with an older lover pulling on her green obi; ca. 1786
oban yoko-e 9 7/8 by 15 1/4 in., 25.2 by 38.6 cm
The older man grabs the wrist of a teenaged girl and pulls off her obi. He tries to quell her protestations: "Be quiet, you're grown up enough" and is defiant at the prospect of being caught: "I am going to finish very quickly and I am going to make you a real woman." But she doesn't give in: "Stop it, I don't care if I am going to be a woman or not, and someone's coming, stop it" and calls for help from her Mother (or Mistress).
This series was issued in the benigirai-e ('avoid red') format, a palette limited to yellow, purple, green, grey, black, and sometimes light blue. The muted palette was popular in the 1780s into the 1790s.
Published:
Highlights of Japanese Printmaking Part 4: Shunga, Scholten Japanese Art, 2014, cat. no. 35
References:
Evans, Shunga, The Art of Love in Japan, 1975, pl. no. 6.52
Gian Carlo Calza, Poem of the Pillow and Other Stories by Utamaro, Hokusai, Kuniyoshi and Other Artists of the Floating World, 2010, p. 226
(inv. no. 10-2517)
price: $4,700
