Shima Seien (島成園) (artist 1893 – 1970)

The heroine Yūgiri from the play 'Yūgiri and the Straits of Naruto' Yūgiri Awa no Naruto [夕霧阿波鳴渡]

Print

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Date:12/1922
Medium:color woodcut
Inscription:Signed: Seien (成園)
Links Harvard Art Museums
Waseda University
National Museum of Asian Art Description:This print is also known as "The Departed Spirit of a Courtesan" and "Ghost of Courtesan". It was published in The Complete Works of Chikamatsu (Dai Chikamatsu zenshū.)

Shima Seien was one of the very few female artists in pre-World War II Japan. She was not without her critics. Kishida Ryūsei (岸田 劉生: 1891-1929), after seeing Seien's works at a couple of exhibitions, wrote about her "women like ghosts" (obake no yō na onna)."

The carver may have been Yamagishi Kazue, printed by Nishimura Kumakichi and published by Dai Chikamatsu Zenshu Kankokai.

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Scholten Japanese Art wrote of this print and the series: "This print accompanied volume 9 of the set, The Complete Works of Chikamatsu (Dai Chikamatsu zenshu), which was published in 16 volumes on a monthly basis beginning in April 1922. Each volume of the first edition was comprised of the work by the famous playwright, Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) and accompanied by at least one full-sized woodblock print depicting famous roles from his plays, with a total of 18 prints issued. A second edition published in 1925 was not accompanied by the color prints."

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The play was first staged in 1712 - probably for the puppet theater.

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Illustrated:

1) in color in The Female Image: 20th century prints of Japanese beauties, Abe Publisher, 2000, #124, p. 97.

2) in black and white in Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years by Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1990, page 94.
Related entities beautiful woman picture (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)
Hakuyōsha (白耀社) (publisher)
Yamagishi Kazue (山岸主計) (carver)
Yūgiri (夕霧) (role)
Taishō era (大正時代) (genre)
Chikamatsu Monzaemon (近松門左衛門) (author)
modern prints (shin hanga - 新版画) (genre)

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