Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Winter (Fuyu - 冬), from the series Pleasures of Women at the Height of the Four Seasons (Shiki no kokoro onna asobi - 四季心女遊)
1843 – 1845
7 in x 9.75 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signature: Chōōrō Kuniyoshi ga
(朝櫻楼国芳画)
Artist's seal: kiri - left panel only
Publisher: Aritaya Seiemon (Marks 014 - seal 22-064)
Censor's seal: Watari
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - middle and right panels only
Lyon Collection - Autumn from this series
National Diet Library This is the 'Winter' set from an unusual group of chūban triptychs representing the four seasons. There had been a long tradition of previous artists using beautiful women as central figures wearing seasonal costumes and doing seasonal activities. Kuniyoshi was following their lead. In Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi 1797-1861, page 130, it says: "This print portrays an outdoor scene with three beauties: one carries a child, one shovels the freshly fallen snow and a third holds a box with toothbrushes. Two children making a snowman and romping dogs complete this winter scene. This chūban triptych is from a set dealing with the four seasons."
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Illustrated In color in Kuniyoshi by Jūzō Suzuki, Heibonsha Limited, Publishers, 1992, no. 236.
Aritaya Seiemon (有田屋清右衛門) (publisher)
beautiful women (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)
boshi-e (母子絵) (genre)