Picture Book of Modern Figures of Fashion (Ehon imayō sugata) : [volume 1]

Utagawa, Toyokuni, 1769-1825 · 1802 · Edo: Izumiya Ichibei 和泉屋市兵衞 · 8 pictures

This is a Japanese woodblock picture book, volume one, issued in Edo in 1802 by the publisher Izumiya Ichibei and made by the artist Utagawa Toyokuni for a general urban readership interested in fashion. The pictures show women in domestic interiors, dressing, sewing, and attending to household tasks, with flat colour and fine line work across double-page spreads. A designer might take from them the layered patterned kimono, the restrained palette of ochre, green and pink, and the way interior screens and tatami floors frame figures.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library