Screen of Two Dancers (Bugi zu byōbu)
Against a blank background sprinkled with gold, two female figures move in rhythmic dance poses and gestures with their opened folding fans. Both wear elaborately patterned "small sleeve" kimonos (kosode), in rich colors with flourishes of gold. Screen paintings such as this, often in the format of six-panel folding screens, evidenced the growing popularity of new forms of dance in the Edo period, and an interest in exhibiting the latest trends in women’s fashions. Early examples of this genre appeared in the early seventeenth century, but this example, from perhaps a century later, preserves the format of the earlier works. Such screen paintings also reflected the trend, in hanging-scroll paintings by ukiyo-e artists, of focusing attention on a single figure posed in stylish and elegant attire.
Artwork Details
- 舞伎図屏風
- Title: Screen of Two Dancers (Bugi zu byōbu)
- Artist: Unidentified Artist
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 18th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Two-panel folding screen; ink, color, and gold on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 31 5/8 × 14 3/16 in. (80.4 × 36.1 cm)
Overall with mounting: 50 13/16 × 68 7/8 in. (129 × 175 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2019
- Object Number: 2019.420.18
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Unidentified
Unidentified
19th century
Unidentified
16th–17th century
Unidentified
ca. 1820–35
Unidentified
ca. 1895
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