Three Girls on a Riverbank

Torii Kiyonaga

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Three fashionably dressed women depicted in Kiyonaga's graceful, elongated style make their way along the banks of a river. While the primary focus is on the idealized beauties, landscape details augment the scene with lively notes of time and place. Reeds and willow branches rustle in the strong riverside breeze that lifts the women's robes, suggesting a fine day in early summer. In the distance, the bustling traffic of commercial craft and pleasure boats alike add to the buoyant mood and locate the scene on the river Sumida. Coursing through the downtown commercial districts in the eastern part of the capital of Edo, it was a major thoroughfare, connected to a network of canals and emptying into Tokyo Bay. While abbreviated seasonal motifs were conventional in ukiyo-e paintings, this work is notable for its interest in movement in both figures and landscape and for the details faithful to the scenery of 18th century Edo.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art