Shamisen Player
date: label: Date
content: late 18th-early 19th century
label: Period
content: Edo period
name: label: Artist
content: Kitagawa Utamaro II 喜多川歌麿 二代目 (died 1831?)
notes: label: Label
content: Utamaro was one of the most prolific and talented artists of eighteenth-century Japan. His name is synonymous with evocative studies of women of the licensed brothel quarters. Approximately 1,900 woodblock print designs bear his name; his paintings are rarer. This painting was probably done in the final decade of the artist's life.
label: Label
content: Here the shamisen player is rendered in swirling, sinuous lines that surround the instrument, suggesting her intense concentration and mimicking the lines of calligraphy upon which the central meaning of this painting is dependent. The player's partially visible underrobe covered with cursive script of the Japanese hiragana syllabary underscores the theme of visible words.
label: Label
content: Inscribed above the figure are two kyoka (literally "mad verse"), which are witty, satirical poems of thirty-one syllables that defy satisfactory translation. The poems here might be rendered as follows: "To hum light songs is the lady's habit; playing the shamisen is the delight of many guests," and "Even songs sung by a sweet voice will not raise the dust on the pillow of one who is thinking of her."
label: Label
content: Kyoka were at the height of their popularity in the second half of the eighteenth century; however, the biting political commentary embedded in many caused authorities to ban the format. The works inscribed here are signed by a Kyokabutsu Todamaru, the nom de plume of an unidentified poet whom an early nineteenth century document lists as a prominent judge in poetry contests.
label: Label
content: Utamaro was no stranger to the careful government search for seditious intent concealed in painting and poetry. For producing a satirical image of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1597), a revered national leader, he was charged with a violation of the censorship laws and suffered a debilitaing period of imprisonment in 1804.
label: Provenance
content: To 1899
label: Provenance
content: Edward S. Hull Jr., New York to 1899 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1899 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Edward S. Hull Jr. in 1899 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Kakemono List, L. 199, as well as Voucher No. 9, May 1899, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Edward S. Hull Jr. was Ernest Francisco Fenollosa’s (1853-1908) lawyer. Hull often acted as an agent, facilitating purchases of objects consigned to him by Fenollosa, as well as purchases of objects consigned to him by Fenollosa's
label: Provenance
content: well-known associate, Bunshichi Kobayashi (see correspondence, Hull to Freer, 1898-1900, as well as invoices from E.S. Hull Jr., 1898-1900, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives). See also, Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), pgs. 15 and 34. See further, Thomas Lawton and Linda Merrill, Freer: A Legacy of Art, (Washington, DC and New York: Freer Gallery of Art and H. N. Abrams, 1993), pgs. 133-134.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Inventing Utamaro: A Japanese Masterpiece Rediscovered (April 8 to July 9, 2017)
label: Exhibition History
content: Surveying the Collections: Poets and Parties (July 2, 2000 to February 4, 2001)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Edward S. Hull Jr. (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: music
label: Topic
content: courtesan
label: Topic
content: shamisen
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: ukiyo-e
label: Topic
content: kakemono
label: Topic
content: musician
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1899.16
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Color, ink, and gold on silk panel
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 83.8 × 31.8 cm (33 × 12 1/2 in)