Keisai Eisen 渓斎英泉 (1790–1848)
Feigning Sleep
From the series Picture Book:
The Beautiful Grass of Women (Ehon fukamigusa)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868), c. 1823
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Gift of James A. Michener, 2003
(2005.0115)

Approximately twenty years after Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806) published his series Picture Book: Pulling Komachi (Ehon Komachi biki, 1802), on display to the left, Eisen appropriated one of those images for his own series, making little alteration in the figures beyond their clothing and the addition of a folding screen in the upper left corner. Katsushika Hokusai (1790–1849) also incorporates several elements from Utamaro’s composition for his series Picture Book: Patterns of Couples (Ehon tsui no hinagata, c. 1812), on display nearby.

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