Title : Catching Fireflies on Raft

Artist : Hosoda Eishi

Date : c. 1790s

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : A popular summer activity during the Edo period, catching fireflies remains a common way to spend the evening in some Japanese suburbs. This print depicts three elegantly posed ladies on a raft surrounded by fireflies. At the same time, the image is a generic one, and like most Edo period ukiyo-e, probably was imagined by the artist rather than composed from an actual scene. Chöbunsai Eishi was from a samurai background and trained in the Kanö School of painting, the official artist-school for the shogunate and its subordinates. His pictures of beautiful women were especially popular, rivaling those of Kitagawa Utamaro, the foremost print designer of beautiful women in the late 18th century. While Utamaro focused on insightful portraits of women that were often cropped at the bust to emphasize their facial expressions, Eishi was known for full body depictions that emphasized the graceful appearance and movement of women, and the rich designs of their kimono. “Midsummer Night’s Pleasure” 08/05/2010-10/10/2010) **********************

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