Title : Teahouse Maidens under a Wisteria Trellis

Artist : Kitagawa Utamaro

Date : c. 1795

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : Teahouse waitresses light the lanterns underneath a wisteria trellis in preparation for the evening’s business. The poses of the three figures are each different, seated and standing, demonstrating Utamaro’s compositional skills. Also, his outstanding artistic sense of blending different patterns of kimono, sash, mat, lanterns, and wisteria in unity is remarkable. In 1787 sumptuary laws went into effect, forbidding the use of luxurious materials by townsmen, including for kimono. Creative townsmen enjoyed the coordination of dark colors, creating a new trend. Even without using bright colors like pink, red, gold and silver, they still enjoyed their own fashions. (from "VOGUE in Japan: Edo Fashion through Japanese prints" exhibition 07/30/08-)

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