Two women and a girl on the seashore

Object Details

• Artist

  Utagawa Toyoharu (1735-1814)

• Signatures

  Signed: Gyo nen (age) roku-ju-roku (66) o (okina, i.e. old man) Ichiryusai Utagawa Toyoharu ga.

• Marks

  Contains seal.

• Label

  Utagawa Toyoharu was an important and influential painter of ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) who established a lineage of successful painters and print designers that continued into the Meiji era (1868-1912). This charming scene at the seashore reveals the technical versatility of Toyoharu's painting, ranging from the soft brushstrokes and ink washes depicting the landscape to the fluent rendering of the stylized waves. Rich, opaque color, meticulously applied and accented with gold, is restricted to the womens' fashionable kimonos. Toyoharu's mastery of expression is apparent in this lively work: the womens' garments seem to be caught by a breeze as they wade out to gather clams; the young woman deftly catches a fish with her hand.

• Provenance

  To 1898

  Edward S. Hull Jr., New York to 1898 [1]

  From 1898 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Edward S. Hull Jr. in 1898 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Kakemono List, L. 175, pg. 38, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Edward S. Hull Jr. was Ernest Francisco Fenollosa’s (1853-1908) lawyer. Hull often acted as an agent, facilitating purchases of objects consigned to him by Fenollosa, as well as purchases of objects consigned to him by Fenollosa's

  well-known associate, Bunshichi Kobayashi (see correspondence, Hull to Freer, 1898-1900, as well as invoices from E.S. Hull Jr., 1898-1900, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives). See also, Ingrid Larsen, "'Don’t Send Ming or Later Pictures': Charles Lang Freer and the First Major Collection of Chinese Painting in an American Museum," Ars Orientalis vol. 40 (2011), pgs. 15 and 34. See further, Thomas Lawton and Linda Merrill, Freer: A Legacy of Art, (Washington, DC and New York: Freer Gallery of Art and H. N. Abrams, 1993), pgs. 133-134.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Seasons: Arts of Japan (February 5, 2011 to January 13, 2013)

  Artists of Edo (November 19, 2005 to May 29, 2006)

  Japanese Ukiyo-e Painting (May 2, 1973 to July 1, 1974)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Edward S. Hull Jr. (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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• Date

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• Name

  Hull, Edward S., Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Ukiyo-e, Children, Woman, Girl, Kakemono, Shore

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings