Beauties of the Latest Fashion Compared with the Beauty of Flowers (Tosei Bijin), from Flower Playing Cards (Hana-awase)

Gosotei Toyokuni II

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Object Label

The Danish-born modernist Kai Gotzsche painted this work in the American Southwest, where he spent time in the 1920s, often in the company of the writer D. H. Lawrence and a fellow Danish painter, Knud Merrild, at the Taos home of the art patron Mabel Dodge. Abstracted in a decorative manner, with simplified forms and echoes of a few key shapes, the composition is in keeping with the elegant Art Deco style that was internationally popular by the mid-1920s, particularly in architecture, decorative arts, and graphics.

Caption

Gosotei Toyokuni II Japanese, 1802–1835. Beauties of the Latest Fashion Compared with the Beauty of Flowers (Tosei Bijin), from Flower Playing Cards (Hana-awase), ca. 1830–35. Woodblock print, 15 1/4 x 10 1/2 in. (38.7 x 26.7 cm) . Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift, 76.151.14. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 76.151.14_print_IMLS_SL2.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

Asian Art

Title

Beauties of the Latest Fashion Compared with the Beauty of Flowers (Tosei Bijin), from Flower Playing Cards (Hana-awase)

Date

ca. 1830–35

Period

Edo Period

Geography

Place made: Japan

Medium

Woodblock print

Classification

Print

Dimensions

15 1/4 x 10 1/2 in. (38.7 x 26.7 cm)

Signatures

Artist's signature: Toyokuni ga.

Markings

Publisher's seal. Censor seal: Kiwame

Credit Line

Anonymous gift

Accession Number

76.151.14

Rights

No known copyright restrictions

This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • So the red stamps on the prints are ownership marks?

    Typically the marks in red are the artist's seal. Publisher and censor marks would also appear on prints, but tend not to be red.
  • What exactly is Prussian Blue? The notes say simply that it's a synthetic pigment. Do you know any more about it?

    Prussian blue is a synthetic pigment that is smoother and more well suited to printmaking than plant and mineral dyes.
    Cool. That's why this print looks so rich and detailed. I love the depth of color
    Yes, so did Japanese printmakers like Toyokuni II, Hokusai, and Hiroshige!
    I'm sure it was very inspiring to have materials like this to work with.
    Monochromatic blue Aizuri-e prints like this were a common form of ukiyo-e print.
    The Berlin blue, or Prussian blue, while it was developed in the first decade of the 18th century in Germany, entered the Asian market by the mid 18th century. It took until the 1820s for the price to go down, and the material to become more affordable. That's when it became practical for prints!

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