Artworks

Oiran (Courtesan)

Artwork · Takahashi Yuichi · 1872 · painting · Tokyo University of the Arts

An oil painting by Takahashi Yuichi (1828–1894), the first to fuse objective description and subjective interpretation in Western-style painting, taught by Charles Wirgman of the Illustrated London News: commissioned by a gentleman who wanted a portrait of the geisha Koine of the Inamotorō in the intricate hyōgomage hairstyle, then falling from fashion — the many hairpins against the solid figure suggest the artificiality of her life. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 371–372, fig. 441. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.