Japanese Print by Hashiguchi Goyo, 橋口五葉 (HASHIGUCHI GOYO)

Listed in Western collection records with the artist's name in roman capitals, this print is likely a bijin-ga from Goyo's concentrated period of woodblock production between approximately 1915 and 1921. Goyo trained in Western academic painting before turning to woodblock design, and his bijin synthesize the flat color fields and contour line of the ukiyo-e tradition with a more volumetric treatment of the figure derived from his Meiji-era art education. Compositions typically isolate a single woman — engaged in hair arrangement, cosmetic ritual, or bathing — against a spare, minimally described ground. Multiple color impressions build the texture of textile patterns, and the rendering of bare skin through layered, near-white pigments is among the most technically refined in the shin-hanga genre. The figure's gaze and posture are characteristically specific rather than conventionalized.