The Art Institute of Chicago

The Ukiyo-e Paintings

Author(s): F. W. G.
Source: Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (1907-1951), Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jan., 1928), pp.
4-6
Published by: The Art Institute of Chicago
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4112483
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Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (1907-1951)

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6 BULLETIN OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

in tone to avoid any hardness in the effect, no Tokitomi. He was a samurai of high
yet always with brush strokes of the utmost rank, a pupil of the court painter Kano
freedom, and directness, and nowhere any Eisen, and, during the lifetime of Ieharu,
traces of retouching. The silk upon which the tenth Tokugawa Shogun, he was one
the picture is painted is of a soft drab hue. of the artists attached to his court.
Originally it must have extended eight or F. W. G.
ten inches more than at present above the
head of the figure, but for some reason-- THE COVER
probably because damaged-it was cut
down when put into the kakemono mount, A HEAD of Paul Clzanne by Auguste
a comparatively modern one-in which it Renoir has recently been purchased,
now appears. bringing to the Art Institute an
The other painting (Fig. 2) is by Eishi, interesting associational item, as well as an
and dates at the very end of the eighteenth important example of Renoir's work in
century or the beginning of the nineteenth. pastel. Renoir, it will be remembered, was
It also is a masterpiece, and, like the among the first to champion "The Hermit
Shunsha, the subject is a standing figure of Aix," regarding his art seriously at a
of a woman. She holds an uchiwa (round time when other painters and critics
fan) by the handle, which is grasped be- scoffed. The portrait, which has the imme-
tween her teeth while both of her hands are diacy of a quick sketch, manages at the
engaged in tying her obi, which is of a pale same time to establish itself as a work of
neutral warm drab hue, with an almost fine and subtle dignity, presenting two per-
invisible pattern of large cherry blossoms. sonalities: one, the tolerant, gifted Impres-
She wears also, only a red petticoat, and sionist, whose order was passing, and the
over it a ne-maki (nightdress) of a very pale, other, the Father of Modernism, whose
slightly pink hue, so soft that, at the foot, it day was yet to come. The picture not only
almost blends into the cream-gray of the amplifies the fine Renoirs in the Ryerson
silk upon which the picture is painted. A collection but brings another interesting
dark drab band about the neck of the example to the artists' portrait gallery.
garment, bearing a powdering of chrysan-
themum flowers and leaves, serves to
THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
strengthen the composition and, with the
red of the underskirt where it is exposed, A N exhibition of the wood carvings by
to balance the black mass of the woman's Carl Hallsthammar will be shown
hair and the silvery form of the uch:'wa. in the Children's Museum during
The subtle rhythm of the lines of the January and February. Some of these
drapery is accentuated by the notan, that carvings are joyous in spirit and amusing,
is, the beautiful gradations of tone with like the "Singing Brothers" which now
which they are rendered. Only a master belongs to the Museum; others are more
hand could make strokes so firm and true serious, but all are clever in their similarity
and so delicately shaded just where the to their subjects and in the combination of
shading should come. And only a master carving and color which Mr. Hallsthammar
mind could conceive a figure so rhvythmi- handles successfully.
cally organized throughout, so strong and The Spring Exhibition in March will be
at the same time so exquisitely dainty. The a colorful display of Italian posters and
picture is in remarkable preservation, dolls, cleverly made of soft felt.
which is an indication that it has been In the Children's Talks given by Miss
looked upon as a treasure to be most care- Mackenzie on Saturdays at 9:20 the chil-
fully guarded. It may indeed be doubted dren will start early in January on a tour
that Eishi ever painted anything that sur- around the world, with lantern slides and
passed it. Eishi was his brush name. His stories and some imagination to carry them
real name was Hosoda Jibuky6 Fujiwara along.

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 4 BULLETIN OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

TWO UKIYO-E PAINTINGS

tions from them are placed on exhibition.

Aside from these only a few Ukiyo-e paint-
ings are owned in the United States. Some
of these are in the hands of private col-
lectors by whom they are greatly treasured.
But by most American collectors of
Japanese prints the paintings have been
ignored. Those in the museum collections
have never awakened interest at all com-
parable to that evoked by the prints. Yet
the paintings, when of fine quality, are
equally deserving and should be better
known than they are. By Japanese con-
noisseurs they are appreciated more highly
than are the prints. By Mr. Fenollosa
their value was clearly perceived, and in
his lectures and his books he never failed
to lay stress upon it. And he made a point
of calling attention to it when, in Janu-
ary, 1896, he arranged an exhibition of
works by Ukiyo-e artists in the Vanderbilt
Gallery in the old Fine Arts Building
in West Fifty-seventh Street, New York.
This was the first chronological exhibition
of these works ever held in this country.
Four hundred and one prints were shown:
among them matchless impressions-now
in the Buckingham collection-of some of
the finest prints that are known. But the
exhibition did not consist of prints alone.
Included in it were forty-five paintings,
FIG. 2. A WOMAN IN NIGHT ATTIRE, BY CHOBUNSAI most of them from Mr. Fenollosa's private
EISHI. GIFT OF MISS KATE BUCKINGHAM
collection. By showing these in connection
with the prints it was possible to present a
IN America acquaintance with the works comprehensive view of the aims and de-
of the Japanese artists of the Ukiyo-e velopment of the school such as could not
School has been restricted for the most be given in any other way.
part to the color-prints. Largely, but not Hitherto it has not been possible to com-
entirely, this has been due to lack of op- bine the two phases of Ukiyo-e art when
portunities to see many of the paintings, exhibiting selections from the Buckingham
more especially those of the better grade. Collection in the Institute, but it is desirable
Although there are extensive collections in that it should be in future, and a beginning
the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and has been made in the accession of the two
the Freer Gallery in Washington, and a pictures that are here illustrated. For their
smaller number in the Metropolitan historic interest as well as their artistic
Museum in New York, they are usually merit they must, therefore, be regarded as
kept in storage and only occasional selec- important additions to the collection.
Published monthly, September to May, inclusive, at The Art Institute of Chicago. Entered as second-class matter
January 17, 1918, at the post-office at Chicago, Illinois, under the Act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing
at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on June 28, 1918. Sub-
scription included in membership fee, otherwise $1.00 per year. ). ). @ ) Volume XXII, Number I

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BULLETIN OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO 5

Some of the Ukiyo-e artists were painters

only, who did not design any color-prints.
Others devoted themselves almost exclu-
sively to print designing, and seldom suc-
ceeded in painting pictures that were im-
bued with much aesthetic charm. Those
who excelled in both fields were not many
in number: all of them were distinguished
masters. Two of the most eminent of these
were Katsukawa Shunsh6 and Ch6bunsai
Eishi, the painters of the pictures under
consideration. Shunsh6, whose real name
was Hayashi Y-asuke Fujiwara no Masa-
teru, is widely known for his color-prints,
and especially for those in which he por-
trayed, in the character of their rbles, the
popular actors of his day. In Japan he is
equally renowned as a painter. Besides his
training in Ukiyo-e under Shunsui, he
studied the Kano technique under Ko no
Sukoku, and he was not only an accom-
plished craftsman but also a remarkably
skilled calligrapher, and in whatever he did,
always an artist. The painting here illus-
trated (Fig. r) is a work done about 1789
when he was in his sixty-third year. The
small reproduction in black and white is
inadequate to convey more than a faint
impression of its quality. It is a standing
figure of a woman who inclines her head to
look down toward her right as she replaces
a hairpin in her coiffure. She is dressed in
a kimono made of pale gray material in two
tones, that has on the sleeves and skirt a
pattern of white cherry blossoms, and on
its edges a border of the deeper gray,
covered with a patterning of white leaves FIG. I. A BIJIN, BY KATSUKAWA SHUNSHO.
and pine needles. Her obi and her under- GIFT OF MISS KATE BUCKINGHAM

kimono, bits of which show about her

wrists, beneath her chin, and where her and the woman's coiffure is plainly evident.
skirts are parted at the bottom, are of a So also is the spotting of the smaller red
rather dark vermillion hue, softened by masses, one of which, quite essential to the
the black outlines of the folds. She wears serenity of the composition, is the kaki-
also a black uchikake (overdress) that has han, the so-called "written seal" appended
slipped down from both of her shoulders. to the signature. Every detail, even the
On the skirt of this garment is a pattern of smallest, shows painstaking care and
gray-blue sea-weeds, and cut-edged roun- thought, and what is more, keenly per-
dels in dull bronze. Throughout, the work- ceptive feeling for the rhythmic unification
manship is flawless, the brush strokes at that is the most salient characteristic of
once firm and expressively sensitive. Even Shunsho's work. Each white blossom and
in the reproduction the perfection of the leaf is placed with reference to every other
balance of the black masses of the uchikake one, and is painted so as to be exactly right

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