Young man

Object Details

• Artist

  Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849)

• Label

  At first glance, the figure here appears to be a woman, but the hairstyle confirms that this is a handsome young man, known during the Edo period as a wakashu. The surcoat (haori) and bamboo hat (kasa) suggest he is on an outing about town. The composition and the depiction of the figure in full profile, otherwise unusual in Japanese painting, are typical of Hokusai's work during his Sori period. An illustration in the catalogue of the Hokusai exhibition organized in Tokyo in 1900 by American scholar Ernest Fenollosa indicates that to the right of the present paper was once an additional area that contained an inscription by a certain Kitoku. Presumably this section was removed during a later remounting.

• Provenance

  To 1903

  Bunshichi Kobayashi (circa 1861-1923), Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Yokohama, to 1903 [1]

  From 1903 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunshichi Kobayashi in 1903 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Kakemono List, L. 342, pg. 84, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [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

  Hokusai: Mad About Painting (November 20, 2019 to January 9, 2022)

  Hokusai (October 25, 2005 to May 14, 2006)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japan Fine Arts Association, 1900 (1900)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Kobayashi Bunshichi 小林文七 (ca. 1861-1923) (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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  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Kobayashi, Bunshichi, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings