Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink painting by the Romanticist artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi. It dates from 1830 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition emphasizes the figure’s delicate posture and the instrument’s presence, suggesting a focus on performance and feminine expression.
The painting Untitled by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, created in 1830, portrays a solitary woman holding a musical instrument. The composition emphasizes the figure’s delicate posture and the instrument’s presence, suggesting a focus on performance and feminine expression. By placing a woman in association with music, the work alludes to contemporary Japanese attitudes toward artistic patronage and the role of women in cultural life.
The limited iconographic details provided by the sources indicate that the subject combines a female form with a symbolic musical object, inviting interpretation of the scene as a meditation on artistic skill and gendered representation in the Edo period.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1830, the work is a painting on silk, using matted ink and color as its medium. The horizontal composition measures 41.9 by 59.7 cm. Classified as a portrait, it depicts a woman alongside a musical instrument, rendered in the pictorial style associated with Utagawa Kuniyoshi's ukiyo-e practice.
History & Provenance
Created in 1830, the painting Untitled by Utagawa Kuniyoshi is a work executed in ink and color on silk. The piece depicts a woman holding a musical instrument and originates from Japan. It is currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Overview
Created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi in 1830, this untitled painting is rendered with ink and color on silk, presented matted. The artwork features a solitary female figure, depicted in the act of holding a stringed musical instrument. The composition highlights her presence against a subtle background, characteristic of the period's portraiture.
Artist & collection
Artist
Kuniyoshi grew up in old Tokyo when the city was still called Edo. His dad ran a silk shop, but Kuniyoshi loved anything with pictures, scrolls, screens, comic books. He talked his way into the Utagawa school, a kind of…
- Untitled
Three Women Playing Musical Instruments
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Untitled
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Untitled
Untitled
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