Woman Writing
- Date:
- 1753–1806
- Medium:
- color woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Dimensions:
- 36.6 × 24.8 cm
- Source:
- Cleveland Museum of Art
A woman writes with a brush — one of the quintessential images of feminine accomplishment in East Asian culture, where calligraphy and literary composition were understood as expressions of cultivated inner life. The act of writing allowed Utamaro to depict a woman in absorbed concentration, her posture defined by the disciplined grip of the brush and the careful direction of attention toward the paper. Such images celebrated literacy and artistic cultivation as feminine virtues.
![A Low Class Prostitute (Gun [teppo]), from the series “Five Shades of Ink in the Northern Quarter" ("Hokkoku goshiki-zumi") by Kitagawa Utamaro](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/ed82be98-8a83-4163-ccc4-e2f7210cce55/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
c. 1794/95
Color woodblock print; oban
c. 1793
color woodblock print
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Woman Writing was created by Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川歌麿) in 1753–1806.
Woman Writing depicts bijin-ga and calligraphy.
Woman Writing measures 36.6 × 24.8 cm (Oban format).
