Woman in a Black Kimono

Woman in a Black Kimono

Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Judging from her garments and hairstyle, this woman, posed alone against a blank background, is probably the daughter or young wife of a wealthy merchant family. The black kimono nicely offsets the white obi decorated with spring flower motifs. The cuffs and hems of the undergarment add elements of visual frisson in an otherwise elegant and subdued painting. Katsukawa Shunshō is perhaps better known for his prints of Kabuki actors, which he started producing in about 1765; he and his pupils dominated this area of print production for a generation. Later in his career he achieved renown for his meticulously rendered paintings of beauties. The use of a distinctive handwritten seal (kaō) allows the painting to be dated to the mid to late 1780s.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.