Summer Kimono (In a Light Garment, a Woman from Naniwa)

Catalog note / 解説

Kneeling before a mirror, the woman in this print turns to stare not at her own reflected image, but at the viewer. This assertive, self-aware pose is different from the attitude of the women in Goyö's previous prints, and from almost all prints in the ukiyo-e tradition, where women stare rapturously at their reflection, or at some part of their body. This challenging gaze might have been adapted from the French academic tradition of artists who mastered the physical and psychological portraiture of women. 2002