A Puppet Made from a Bucket, A Lady of the Enpō Era (1673–1681), from the series Thirty-six Elegant Selections

1894

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

A Puppet Made from a Bucket, A Lady of the Enpō Era (1673–1681), from the series Thirty-six Elegant Selections is a 1894 by Mizuno Toshikata, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Mizuno Toshikata
When & what style?: 1894 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a woman in a purple kimono holding a puppet made from a wooden bucket. The puppet wears a tiny blue kimono and a red hat. The lady’s hair is styled tightly at the back. This print is from a series called *Thirty-six Elegant Selections*. Each one shows a woman from a different era. The artist loved history and often mixed old and new Japan in his art. See how the colors pop against the plain background? That’s on purpose. If you like this, check out works by Mizuno Toshikata.

The story of this work

Overview

Each of the prints in the series Thirty-six Elegant Selections features a woman from a different time period, as befits an artist who was interested in history painting. Most of the prints are set in the Edo period (1615–1868). Mizuno Toshikata was a favored student of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892), and took over his post as a newspaper illustrator.

Read the full account in the museum source.