Young man

Maker(s)
Artist: Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849)
Historical period(s)
Edo period, ca. 1795-1798
Medium
Ink and color on paper
Dimensions
H x W (image): 50.9 × 20.9 cm (20 1/16 × 8 1/4 in)
Geography
Japan
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1903.130
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Painting
Type

Hanging scroll

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, ukiyo-e, woman
Provenance

To 1903
Bunshichi Kobayashi (circa 1861-1923), Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Yokohama, to 1903 [1]

From 1903 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunshichi Kobayashi in 1903 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Kakemono List, L. 342, pg. 84, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] See note 1.

[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.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Kobayashi Bunshichi (C.L. Freer source) ca. 1861-1923

Label

At first glance, the figure here appears to be a woman, but the hairstyle confirms that this is a handsome young man, known during the Edo period as a wakashu. The surcoat (haori) and bamboo hat (kasa) suggest he is on an outing about town. The composition and the depiction of the figure in full profile, otherwise unusual in Japanese painting, are typical of Hokusai's work during his Sori period. An illustration in the catalogue of the Hokusai exhibition organized in Tokyo in 1900 by American scholar Ernest Fenollosa indicates that to the right of the present paper was once an additional area that contained an inscription by a certain Kitoku. Presumably this section was removed during a later remounting.

Published References
  • John T. Carpenter. Hokusai and His Age. no. 9, 47.
  • Jack Hillier. Hokusai Drawings. London. pl. 2.
  • Ernest Francisco Fenollosa. Catalogue of the Exhibition of Paintings of Hokusai: Held at the Japan Fine Art Association, Uyeno Park, Tókio, from 13th to 30th January, 1900. Exh. cat. Tokyo, January 13 - 30, 1900. no. 6.
  • Ann Yonemura. Hokusai: Volume One. Exh. cat. Washington, 2006. cat. 11, p. 16.
  • Ann Yonemura, Nagata Seiji, Kobayashi Tadashi, Asano Shugo, Timothy Clark, Naito Masatoshi. Hokusai: Volume Two. Exh. cat. Washington, 2006. cat. 16, p. 29, 48.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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