The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 22, 2024

A Beauty

A Beauty

early 1800s
(Japanese, active late 1700s–early 1800s)
Japan, Edo period (1615-1868)
hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Overall: 139.7 x 55.8 cm (55 x 21 15/16 in.); Painting only: 56.3 x 43.1 cm (22 3/16 x 16 15/16 in.)
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.271
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The person's lipstick is made from safflower.

Description

A Kyoto-based ukiyo-e painter, Gion Seitoku specialized in portraying women from Gion and Shimabara, licensed brothel districts in that city. He was known for detailing faces with subtle modeling to heighten a sense of realism. During the 1700s and 1800s, wearing iridescent, greenish lip gloss made from safflower was in vogue. In addition, Japanese women almost universally practiced the custom of artificially blackening their teeth with a stain.
  • (Kozo Yabumoto, Hyogo, Japan, sold to Kelvin Smith)
    ?–1985
    The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1985–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Jenkins, Donald. “Paintings of the Floating World.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 75, no. 7, 1988, pp. 244-260, 262-278, 238. Reproduced p. 273, figure 14, and color plate VIII, p. 269 25160038
    “Checklist of the Kelvin Smith Bequest.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 75, no. 7, 1988, pp. 292–295. Mentioned: p. 294 25160040
    Grossman, Nancy, James T. Ulak, Marjorie Williams, and Laurence Channing. Art of Japan: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2005. Reproduced: p. 108
  • Japan's Floating World (Japanese art rotation) 235. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 8-October 9, 2022).
    Visions of Japan: Prints and Paintings from Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 12, 2004–April 10, 2005).
    A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).
    Ukiyo-e: Floating World. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1973).
  • {{cite web|title=A Beauty|url=false|author=Gion Seitoku|year=early 1800s|access-date=22 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.271