Woman in Night Robe Reading a Letter
Original title: Woman in Night Robe Reading a Letter
kurzbeschreibung
Suzuki Harunobu made this print between 1764 and 1772. It portrays a woman in a night robe bending over a letter. The image is a woodblock print in ink and color on paper, and it belongs to the artist’s ukiyo-e output.
Description
She stands on a wooden floor within a wooden structure, her hair tied in a knot and held by a traditional hairband. The letter rests in her left hand, while her right hand touches her hair. A small black box sits on the floor before her. Light falls from above, bringing out her facial features and the folds of her garment.
Context
Harunobu is regarded as a leading figure of ukiyo-e and a pioneer of the multicolored woodblock print, nishiki-e. This sheet dates from the late Edo period, when urban cultural life in Japan flourished. Scenes from women’s everyday lives were then highly popular.
Impact
Quiet and intimacy emanate from this motif; the moment of reading is captured with gentle elegance. Clear contours and a warm, earthy palette with blue and green accents give the picture a calm, almost poetic mood.
Technique
For this print, the design was cut into woodblocks and then printed in color on paper. Ink and color allowed fine lines and a graduated range of colors, as characteristic of the nishiki-e technique.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)