Goyo completed only 14 woodblock print designs before his death in 1921, making every genuine impression extraordinarily rare. His bijin-ga are among the most refined of the entire shin-hanga movement. "Woman at the Bath" achieved $40,075 at Bonhams New York in 2020; Sotheby's estimates of $15,000–$25,000 are typical for top examples.
A woman applying makeup — "kesho no onna" — from 1918, one of the series of women-at-toilette subjects that occupied Goyo throughout the late Taisho period. The title's Japanese ("化粧の女") confirms the direct, classificatory approach Goyo took to his subjects: this is a woman doing makeup, observed and recorded with the same attention a naturalist might bring to documenting a specific behavior. The act of applying makeup was simultaneously completely ordinary and — in Goyo's rendering — charged with quiet beauty.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Woman Applying Makeup- Kesho no Onna — 化粧の女 was created by Hashiguchi Goyo (橋口五葉) in 1918.
Woman Applying Makeup- Kesho no Onna — 化粧の女 was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1918).
Woman Applying Makeup- Kesho no Onna — 化粧の女 depicts figures, bijin-ga, and portraits.
