The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

A Beauty

early 1800s

Gion Seitoku

(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
  • Kyōto Teishitsu Hakubutsukan 京都帝室博物館. Ukiyo-E Shūei: Tokubetsu Tenran 浮世繪聚英. Kyoto: Benridō, 1923. no. 59
    Jenkins, Donald. “Paintings of the Floating World.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 75, no.7 (September 1988): 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 (September 1988): 292–295. Mentioned: p. 294 25160040
    Laing, Mary, ed. Masterpieces of Ukiyo-E : Paintings from the Manno Art Museum. New York, NY: Sebastian Izzard LLC, 2003. Reproduced: no. 19
    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 日本の浮世. 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, Cleveland, OH (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 (June 11-September 2, 1973).
    Ukiyo-e Shuei [Collection of Ukiyo-e Painting]. Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, Japan (1923).
  • {{cite web|title=A Beauty|url=false|author=Gion Seitoku|year=early 1800s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

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