Page 122 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

Selection From An Important Japanese Collection
(lot 102–127)

113
KITAGAWA UTAMARO (1754-1806) clues, a subtitle or a poem that points to one of seven Komachi
episodes (nana Komachi), the subjects of matching Noh plays. At
Daimonjiya nai Tagasode, Tomeki, Kaoru (The courtesan
Tagasode of the Daimonjiya; with the names of her girl least some of Utamaro’s public could have made the connection.
attendants, Tomeki and Kaoru) Highly sophisticated members of amateur poetry and culture clubs
thrived on parodies of classical themes. Both Utamaro and Hokusai
Woodblock print, from the series Seiro nana Komachi (Seven became well known by designing illustrated poetry albums and
Komachis of Yoshiwara), signed Utamaro hitsu and sealed Honke (true season-occasion prints commissioned by these groups. In turn,
line), published by Sen-sa, circa 1794-95, yellow ground their entrées to the clubs brought more lucrative commissions for
Vertical oban: 14¬ x 10¿ in. (37.1 x 25.7 cm.)
paintings. The Yoshiwara Circle attracted star writers, artists and
$30,000-40,000 the movers and shakers of the urban economy. The owner of the
Daimonjiya brothel, Murata Ichibei (1754–1828), was the head of
the Yoshiwara club. He composed under the pen name Pumpkin
PROVENANCE:
Hayashi Tadamasa (1853-1906) Stem, Kabocha no Motonari. Utamaro, who used the nickname
Slip of the Brush, Fude no ayamaru, is shown at a party in the
illustrated book The Meeting of the Yoshiwara Great Sophisticates
(Yoshiwara daitsu-e) by Koikawa Harumachi, 1784. The courtesan
Tagasode herself is known to have attended Yoshiwara Circle
By the time this print was released in the mid-1790s, Kitagawa events, either as a guest or participant.
Utamaro was flush enough with the success of several series of
courtesan “portraits” to warn off imitators, adding the red seal “true Lacking obvious allusions, might the autumnal connotation of the
line” (honke) to the images, as here; others in the set have both the chrysanthemum flowers on Tagasode’s robe link her image to one
“true line” seal and an added admonition “the genuine” (shomei) of the Komachi episodes? Sekidera Komachi is set in that season.
before his signature. The sensitive carving of the wood blocks––on In the Noh play of the same name, Ono no Komachi appears as a
show in the delicately combed hairline, lacquered hair strands and hundred-year-old in a thatched hut. The Abbot of Sekidera Temple
nape of the neck––the yellow background, and the crispness of the and two priests have approached her because they have heard she
printing indicate this is an early impression of a set that exists in rare call tell them the secrets of poetry. “Long awaited,” they say,
examples. Later editions have a replacement gray ground and no “autumn has come at last.” It is the seventh day of the seventh lunar
“true line” seal (Royal Ontario Museum, 926.18.366). month when everyone on earth is celebrating the one-night tryst of
the Herd Boy Star and the Weaver Girl Star in the Milky Way.
Utamaro has caught a famous beauty unawares. She is absorbed
by something below and out of the frame––a letter from an “Even commoners like ourselves,” starts Komachi, “Take pleasure
admirer, perhaps, or the latest novelette. Smoking her pipe seems in composing poetry,” responds the Abbot. There follow exchanges
unconscious. The paparazzo effect is calculated, however, as there of poems and poignant exclamations from Komachi of her vanished
is no indication she or any of the beautiful women Utamaro drew youth and resplendence. Whatever the metaphor Utamaro intended,
ever sat for him. Like today’s glossed mannequins and influencers Tagasode, despite her charms and talent, herself will peak and
on the internet, her purpose is to advertise the possibility of make way for a younger version of herself. Her name, Tagasode, is
pleasure: most obviously here, the exclusive Daimonjiya brothel in a homonym for a word that means “whose sleeves?” a trope very
the Yoshiwara, where she works, her chic hairstyle and the pattern familiar in ukiyo-e with many extensions to courtesans and the scent
and color combo of her robes. It is not impossible that there is of a lover’s sleeves. At the end of Sekidera, the chorus chants, “My
hidden product placement in the design that is lost on us. Another dancing sleeves rise up, but sleeves cannot wave back the past.”
print by Kiyonaga of Tagasode smoking in bed includes the address
of the Daimonjiya, as well as the names of her two girl attendants, The smaller red seal in the lower left of the print was used by
also given here (MFA, Boston, 11.19413). the great connoisseur/dealer Hayashi Tadamasa. His seal is an
imprimatur of quality ukiyo-e. Hayashi was dispatched to Paris in
It is not yet clear how Tagasode relates in this image to the title of 1878 as a translator from French at the Exposition Universelle. He
the set, “Seven Komachi of the Yoshiwara,” beyond the association opted to remain in Paris, setting up a business selling Japanese art
of seven courtesans at the height of their allure and popularity to and crafts. The number of Japanese woodblock prints dispersed
the beauty, fickleness and eventual fading in age and circumstance at auction alone after his death is staggering. He was active in
found in the legend of Ono no Komachi, a ninth-century poet. cultural circles in Paris and his expertise is credited for enriching
Next to nothing is known about Komachi’s real life, but the the collecting of Japanese art abroad. Later, he was criticized for
substance of her legend has endured for over a thousand years. The having fostered too great an exodus of art from Japan. In 2019, the
eighteen brilliant poems attributed to her speak for themselves. National Museum of Western Art in Japan mounted an exhibition
She is the only female member of the Six Immortals of Poetry to reframe Hayashi’s legacy as a cultural ambassador, who himself
(Rokkasen). In most other print series, there are one or more visual dreamed of a complementary flow of Western art to his homeland.