School Girl

This oban woodblock print depicts a school girl, likely a young Japanese student in the uniform that became standard in Meiji and Taisho-era education. Keith found compelling subjects in the younger generation she encountered during her Asian travels, and the school girl's uniform, with its combination of Western-style garments and Japanese elements, embodied the cultural synthesis that defined modern Japan. The figure's youth and the associations of education, aspiration, and modernity that the uniform carried give the print a forward-looking quality distinct from Keith's more historically oriented subjects. Keith renders the girl with the careful observation of clothing and posture that characterizes all her figure work, treating the school uniform as a cultural artifact worthy of the same attention she gave to traditional Asian dress.