hanging scroll, ink and color on silk; signed Gekko with artist's seal Gekko, ca. late 1890s
painting 122 by 44 cm overall 209 by 58.5
The dancer is performing the hanagasa odori ('flowered hat dance'), a dance which originated from a kabuki play, but was incorporated into a new repertoire of dances, the Shin Nihon Buyou ('new Japanese dance'), a Meiji Period (1868-1912) compilation of traditional dances which were derived from older kabuki and geiko sources. The hat dance is a short section from a longer dance in the kabuki play, Musume Dojoji, in which a temple dancer (representing a snake-demon) changes her costume nine times, which was the number of times snakes were thought to shed their skin. In this section, the dancer manipulates a pile of hats into a variety of shapes while dancing.
A similar composition of the same subject by Gekko is in the collection of The Brooklyn Museum of Art, accession no. 1990.22.1.
(inv. no. 10-2813)
Acquired by the Saint Louis Art Museum
price: Sold
Scholten Japanese Art is open Monday - Friday, and some Saturdays by appointment only
Contact Katherine Martin at (212) 585-0474 or email [email protected] to schedule a visit between 11am and 4pm preferably for no more than two individuals at a time.
site last updated
March 19, 2024
Scholten Japanese Art
145 West 58th Street, suite 6D
New York, New York 10019
ph: (212) 585-0474
fx: (212) 585-0475