Young Woman with Sleeves (Gouache)

Description

The current artwork is a gouache. These are the works of Shimura Tatsumi that inspired the woodblock prints, but no woodblock print is known based on this design. The gouache shows a young woman, painted in a combination of very modern features and old traditional customs. She has a long, visible neck — a symbol of beauty in earlier eras — and a Yoko-Hyogo hairstyle, already in use during the Edo period, paired with a modern makeup style. Her grey, silver-lined kimono features brown and white plum blossoms and brown and white berries on tiny branches, traditionally worn in January or February. The obi displays an abstract black-and-white pattern.