1710
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Three Courtesans with a Client is a 1710 by Okumura Masanobu, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This print shows three women in fine kimonos sitting with a man who looks relaxed. Their hair is styled high. A painted screen stands behind them. This was made with sumi ink on paper. The women wear the latest Edo styles. Their faces are calm but their eyes hint at things unsaid. These scenes were popular in books then. See how the black ink makes shadows sharp? The artist started new ways to print pictures. Look up Okumura Masanobu (Japanese, 1686–1764).
This double-page book illustration is called a sumizuri (meaning to print with sumi ink on paper). It may be an adaptation of a picture book by Kiyonobu I titled Keisei ehon , or Illustrated Book of Courtesans, portraying the most glamorous people in the ukiyo-e world. Masanobu had the greatest influence on the development of the ukiyo-e style during the first half of the 1700s. A publisher, print designer, and painter, he initiated new genres of prints such as the "perspective picture" ( uki-e ).
Read the full account in the museum source.
Okumura Masanobu lived in Edo (now Tokyo) when the city was a flashy, fast-growing hub of theater, gossip, and new ideas.
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