Inside and Outside the Mosquito Net

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Inside and Outside the Mosquito Net

Artist Torii Kiyonaga (Japanese, 1752-1815)

Dateabout 1784

Dimensionssheet: 15 x9 15/16 in. (38.1 x 25.2 cm)

Mediumcolor woodblock print

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineCarrie L. Brown Bequest Fund

Object number

1951.289

Not on View

Label TextIn this design of an interior scene from a house of pleasure, two women who represent the period’s beauty ideals are shown attending to a guest lounging within an enclosed mosquito net. One of the courtesans, wearing a loose, revealing robe, is about to join the man inside the net. Kiyonaga’s designs often included advanced woodblock carving and printing techniques such as the rendering of transparent surfaces. The use of an intricate crisscross pattern to simulate the mosquito netting allows the scene to continue behind the hanging mesh fabric and highlights the combined skills of the block carver and the printer to achieve such astonishing results.Published References

Strong Women Beautiful Men: Japanese Portrait Prints from the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2005, pl. 9 (col.), p. 37.

Strong Women Beautiful Men: Japanese Portrait Prints from the Toledo Museum of Art, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, 2010, pl. 9 (col.), p. 37.

Exhibition History

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Strong Women Beautiful Men: Japanese Portrait Prints from the Toledo Museum of Art, Oct. 14, 2005 - Jan. 2, 2006.

Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Strong Women Beautiful Men: Japanese Portrait Prints from the Toledo Museum of Art, August 28 - October 31, 2010.

Toledo, Toledo Musuem of Art, Fun and Games: The Pursuit of Leisure, Jun. 27-Sept. 21, 2014.