Kiyochika's Tokyo / s2003_8_1174

Before Tarō Inari Shrine at the Asakusa Ricefields  浅草田圃太郎稲前 TYPE: Woodblock print MAKER(S): Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika 小林清親 (1847-1915) Publisher: Fukuda Kumajirō 福田熊治良 (1874-1898) HISTORICAL PERIOD(S): Meiji era, 1881 MEDIUM: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper DIMENSION(S): H x W (overall): 21.2 x 32.1 cm (8 3/8 x 12 5/8 in) ACCESSION NUMBER: S2003.8.1174

DESCRIPTION: Creped impression (chirimen) LABEL: Throughout the nineteenth century, Tarō Inari Shrine was a popular Shinto destination for cult worshippers who sought miraculous healings. By the late 1870s, however, the site had become a wasteland, populated only by a lone gate and some wretched buildings. In this profoundly melancholy print, Kiyochika relies on the strong gradations of tone from the foreground to the distance, the stark architecture of the haunting torii gate, which lingers like a gaunt relic, and the severe contrast between the natural and man-made worlds. It is an unusual composition for Kiyochika, who typically populated his landscapes with human figures. CLASSIFICATION(S): Print KEYWORD(S): gate, Japan, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), moon, nocturne, Robert O. Muller collection, shrine COLLECTION(S) AREA: Japanese Art RIGHTS STATEMENT: Copyright with museum View on the Freer-Sackler website

The Robert O. Muller Collection of the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

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