A Young Komuso
Original title: A Young Komuso
kurzbeschreibung
Suzuki Harunobu made this sheet around 1768 as a woodblock print in ink and color on paper. It presents a woman in traditional dress holding a bamboo staff and looking upward, with a landscape opening behind her and a smaller woodcut panel showing a figure in meditation.
Description
A woman stands in the lower part of the sheet, wrapped in a green cloak over a long, narrow robe. Her hair is piled up and ornamented, and a bamboo staff rests in her hand. She gazes up and to her right. Above her a landscape of mountains and a river spreads out, joined by a smaller woodcut field with a meditating figure. Black and white govern the broad areas, while green and blue supply the accents. The layout climbs vertically: figure below, landscape and small picture panel above.
Context
Harunobu ranks among the significant ukiyo-e artists of the eighteenth century and is regarded as a pioneer of multicolor printing, nishiki-e. The sheet dates from the Edo period, an era of cultural flowering and growing cities. Komuso were wandering Zen monks who played the bamboo flute, and that background informs the subject.
Impact
Clean lines and a plain arrangement give the sheet a quiet, thoughtful mood. Figure and landscape interlock and produce a harmonious pull into depth that draws the eye into the scene.
Technique
What becomes visible here is the woodcut in its typical form: lines and hatching are cut with crisp clarity, tonal values arise across the surface, and ink and color sit on paper. The assured draftsmanship and delicate details attest to the high craft of ukiyo-e. Green and blue as accents show what multicolor printing could achieve.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)