About This Print
Two copies of this chromolithograph which was one of three long pillar-format bijin prints, titled Snow, Moon and Flower issued as special supplements to the January 1935 issue of the magazine The Housewife's Friend (Shufu no tomo). The other two artists contributing designs were Yamakawa Shūhō (1898-1944) and Itō Shinsui (1898-1972).
left: Flower by Yamakawa Shūhō
center: Moon by Kaburaki Kiyokata
right: Snow by Itō Shinsui
Shufu no tomo began publishing in 1918 using the slogan "Once you're married, it's Shufu no tomo."1 Print runs for the magazine were in the tens of thousands, hitting over 300,000 in some months.2
The below inscription appears in the top margin of the print, left of center:
No one but a great artist like Kiyokata could have captured the lyrical mystery of an exceptional beauty, one whose countenance evokes the mysterious luminosity of a misty moonlit night. This work exceeds even the superb artwork that Kiyokata had previously submitted [perhaps the reader knows that the jury awarded it a top prize] to the Imperial Art Exhibition.3
1 Turning Pages: Reading And Writing Women's Magazines in Interwar Japan, Sarah Frederick, University of Hawai'i Press, 2006, p. 84.
2 Ibid.
last revision:
3 With great thanks to Lynn Katsumoto, translator and Japanese art historian extraordinaire.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #1803 | ||
| Title |  月 明治風俗美人 | ||
| Series |  (第十九巻 第一號) a supplement to the magazine The Housewife's Friend (Volume 19, Number 1) | ||
| Artist | Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878-1972) | ||
| Signature |
| ||
| Seal | 清 Kiyo seal (see above) | ||
| Publication Date | January 1, 1935 主婦之友 (第十九巻 第一號) 附録 (昭和九年十二月十日印刷納本 - 昭和十年一月一日行發 大正六年二月十日第三種郵便物認町) | ||
| Edition | |||
| Publisher | Shufu no Tomo Co. Ltd | ||
| Printer | |||
| Impression | excellent | ||
| Colors | excellent | ||
| Condition | good - characteristic insertion folds; light toning | ||
| Miscellaneous | | ||
| Genre | bijin kuchi-e | ||
| Format | | ||
| H x W Paper | 42 7/16 x 9 7/8 in. (107.8 x 25.1 cm) | ||
| H x W Image | 40 15/16 x 9 3/8 in. (104 x 23.8 cm) | ||
| Collections This Print | | ||
| Reference Literature | |
10/10/2020
9/26/2020
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