Hanging Up the Mosquito Net

A woman reaches upward to hang a mosquito net (kaya) in this undated bijin-ga—the reaching posture elongating the figure and displaying the kimono's full pattern while creating a moment of purposeful domestic action. The mosquito net, sheer and white, was a fixture of Japanese summer life that Shinsui depicted multiple times in his bijin-ga, drawn to the visual interest of its translucent fabric, the upward gesture required to hang it, and the intimate space it defined when deployed. The undated print may be related to or contemporary with his 1929 "Mosquito Net" from the First Series of Modern Beauties.