Kitano Tsunetomi, 1880-1947
Comparison of New Ukiyo-e Beauties: March, Lipstick
(Shin Ukiyo-e Bijin Awase: Sangatsu, Kuchibeni)
with mica highlights on the unopened flower buds, her hair ornaments and the pattern on her kimono, with artist's seal Tsunetomi, published by the Publication Society of Shin Ukiyo-e Bijin Awase, ca. 1918
dai oban tate-e 16 1/4 by 10 1/4 in., 41.4 by 26 cm
This series is usually identified as published by Murakami, an otherwise unknown publisher, and dated to 1924. Recent scholarship has adjusted the dating of at least a portion of the series, including this design, to 1918. A slip of paper attached to an impression of another print from the series, May, Early Summer Rain, by Nakayama Shuko (b. 1876), credits the Publication Society of Shin Ukiyo-e Bijin Awase, which may have been run by a Mr. Murakami.
References:
Amy Reigle Newland and Hamanak Shinji, The Female Image: 20th Century Prints of Japanese Beauties, 2000, p. 86, no. 107
Hashizume Setsuya, Kitano Tsunetomi Retrospective, 2003, p. 137, no. 100
Andreas Marks, Seven Masters: 20th-century Woodblock Prints from the Wells Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2015, p. 208 (regarding series dating)
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