1. The Shifting Criterion of Beauty over the Ages

　　　　–Beauty and Vogue in the Edo Period－

　The makeup, hairstyles, and manner of dress reflected by the actresses of films and dramas of decades past impart in the modern observer a strong feeling of anachronistic disjoint. On the cusp of modernity, newly born trends advance the epoch-defining threshold, while in so doing relegating the fashions up to that point to the realm of the outdated.

Although not quite so frenetic, the manner by which fads were born and died in the Edo period is comparable to that in the modern era. Thus it is that the latest fashions of bygone eras are preserved　for retrospection in works of ukiyo-e, and in this way, depict the dramatic metamorphosis of a new
trend of woman as she appeared from generation to generation.

●Delicate, Girl-Like Expressions of Women
　　-Suzuki Harunobuー

Suzuki Harunobu was mainly active during the period from 1764 to 1772. He is famous for his contribution to the development of nishiki-e (multi-colored prints).

Harunobu gained immense popularity through his beautiful multi-colored prints, as well as for his delicate, girl-like portrayals of women.

●Slender, Well-Proportioned Beauties
　　　-Torii Kiyonaga-

Torii Kiyonaga, who was primarily active between 1772 and 1789, drew many pictures of beautiful women. Although the periods of Kiyonaga and Harunobu were separated by only a few years, Kiyonaga’s considerably different style of depicting slender, well-proportioned women was hugely popular among the public. Evidently, trends in the Edo period were highly variable.

●Decadent, Glossy Beauties 　
　　　　-Keisai Eisen-

This picture was depicted by Keisai Eisen, who was active during the period from 1818 to 1844. Upon close examination of the woman’s lower lip, we notice a green coloration. A type of makeup called Sasairo-beni was popularly used by women at the time to give their lips a green gleam. While this trend is difficult to accept with our current sense of aesthetics, it demonstrates the decadent and glossy beauty of courtesans during the time period.

2,From the Beginnings of Ukiyo-e Print to the New Taishō Print

　
　In this exhibition, we introduce the transformation of aesthetics during the 200-plus years from the beginning of the Edo period to the Taishō period. We hope you will notice the changes in the standards of beauty. It will be interesting to compare past ideals with those of the present and to decide which period’s female portrayal is most appealing.

　The depiction of beautiful women is unquestionably a favored theme in the field of ukiyo-e. Various kinds of city girls, courtesans, historical figures, and the fictional characters – women of all walks – have captured the imagination of the ukiyo-e artist; this exhibition, in turn, focuses on this “Beauty of the Female Form” motif given such thorough expression in woodblock prints.
As a medium that spans centuries, ukiyo-e has catered to the creative talents of a long lineage of artists. From the Hishikawa and Kaigetsudo schools of ukiyo-e’s initial stages, to Suzuki Harunobu’s skilled utilization of the nishiki-e （multi-colored prints）; from the representative ukiyo-e artists of the Tenmei (1781-1789) and Kansei (1789-1801) eras, Torii Kiyonaga and Kitagawa Utamaro, to Keisai Eisen, who drew the decadent beauties of the latter Edo period; or from Yoshu Chikanobu and TsukiokaYoshitoshi, who captured the woman of the new Meiji era (1868-1912), to the Taishō era’s (1912-1926) new-style woodblock printer, Hashiguchi Goyo, we humbly introduce this collection, in which the viewer, too, can follow the significant era by era transition of the idealized Japanese Woman depicted in ukiyo-e prints.