Matsukaze from the series One Hundred Prints of Noh

Object Details

• Artist

  Tsukioka Kogyo 月岡耕漁 (1869-1927)

• Publisher

  Matsuki Heikichi 松木平吉

• Label

  This print from the 1920s displays one of the final moments of the play Matsukaze, focusing solely on the eponymous character. The faint greenish blue surrounding her seems to createan aura of unquelled longing. In the last part of the play, Matsukaze is so consumed with this longing, she loses her mind and begins to mistake a pine tree for her lost lover, Yukihira. She is so devoured by her passion that even a monk’s fervent prayers can no longer help her. The play ends with both Matsukaze and her sister, Murasame, vanishing. Only the wind can be heard in the pines.

• Provenance

  To ?

  David Wallace, Washington, DC [1]

  To 1971

  Embassy of Japan, Washington DC, gift of David Wallace, Washington, DC [2]

  From 1971

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of the Embassy of Japan, Washington, DC [3]

  Notes:

  [1] The Embassy of Japan received a gift from David Wallace of Washington, DC at an unknown date. In 1971, the Embassy of Japan gave print to the Study Collection of the Freer Gallery of Art. See letter dated February 11, 1971 from the Freer Gallery to Mr. David Wallace, copy in object file, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Exhibition History

  Staging the Supernatural: Ghosts and the Theater in Japanese Prints (March 23 to October 6, 2024)

• Previous custodian or owner

  David Wallace

  Embassy of Japan

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of the Embassy of Japan, Washington, D.C.

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1920s, 1910s

• Name

  Wallace, David, Embassy of Japan

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Theater, Art, Actors and actresses, Noh, Japanese Art, Taisho era (1912 - 1926)

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints