Getting under the kimono of Japan
Japanese ukiyo-e paintings and more at the MFA [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]
The Phoenix, November 6, 2007….But mostly the exhibit is girls, girls, girls… a tour of Edo’s “pleasure quarters”…ravishingly elegant woman strum samisens, pick flowers, stroll along riverbanks, and just beautifully sit…In Utagawa Toyokuni’s large hanging scroll Geisha and Waitress (1804), a woman smiles as she sits reading a love letter and curls her toes (what a lovely detail)…more…
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These are the unseen worlds of Japan…toe curl under kimono, a letter in the mouth of geisha…
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–Slide 10, shunga “spring pictures” under the kimono–
To get under the kimono of Japan, often takes a lot more effort than its worth. In this case, you can visit the the Boston MFA’ website, Drama and Desire: Japanese Paintings from the Floating World 1690–1850 and check in detail painting number 4 in their slideshow to learn that a seated courtesan holding a letter in her mouth is a Japanese, “gesture that generally signifies emotional turmoil.”
Frankly, I can get more excited about the puerile such as the other MFA exhibit, Contemporary Outlook: Japan. Somehow, today’s Japanese artists in the exhibition are more approachable such as Chinatsu Ban’s funky elephant and cheerful rainbow-striped elephant turd.
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November 7th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Ok, ok, stop your whining. That Chinatsu Ban’s “cheerful rainbow-striped elephant turd” might be a Buddhist stupa—a “toh” in Japanese (the layers/steps symbolizing representing stages of enlightenment). However, the artist obviously was being very Japanese in the positioning of it behind the elephant’s butt and making smaller.