The Curtain Clam
Original title: The Curtain Clam
kurzbeschreibung
Suzuki Harunobu's woodblock print "The Curtain Clam" brings two women in traditional dress to a shoreline. Executed in ink and colour on paper, the sheet dates from the second half of the eighteenth century.
Description
On the left a woman stands in a wide-brimmed hat, a long staff resting over her shoulder; pink and red stripes ornament her green robe. A second woman sits on the ground at the right, also hatted, a staff in her hand; her kimono shows green and red stripes and a sash. Waves, trees and a stone pedestal fill out the setting, awash in a sea of rippling lines. Chinese characters appear on the stone pedestal at the right, with further characters near the top. Earth tones govern the palette, offset by accents of green and red, while the light falls evenly across the sheet.
Context
Harunobu ranks among the leading masters of the Japanese colour woodblock print (nishiki-e) and worked for the urban audience of Edo, present-day Tokyo. His images of women and scenes of everyday life shaped the ukiyo-e style of the late Edo period. No exact year of production is recorded; the print is dated to the 1760s or 1770s.
Impact
Calm and harmonious, the layout unfolds through clear lines and restrained colour. The figures seem elegant and remote, a hallmark of Harunobu's idealising view of feminine grace.
Technique
A woodblock print in ink and colour on paper, of the kind typical of Japanese ukiyo-e. Several blocks carried the colours to the sheet, with precise registration marks keeping the alignment exact.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)