Woman in the Rain

Created in 1915, this oban woodblock print combines two of Capelari's recurring interests: the figure of a Japanese woman and the atmospheric effect of rainfall. The woman likely wears traditional dress, a kimono with an obi sash, and carries or shelters beneath a wagasa umbrella as rain falls around her. The composition places a human figure within a weather event, creating both a portrait and a landscape in a single image. Fritz Capelari's European training informed his treatment of the figure's posture and proportions, lending a naturalistic weight to the woman's stance as she moves through the rain. The shin-hanga printing technique would have rendered the rain as fine parallel lines over a grey-washed background, while the woman's kimono and umbrella receive the layered, saturated color treatment that Watanabe's printers excelled at producing.