The Kiss
- Date:
- Not set
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
Description
"The Kiss" is one of Kobayakawa's most charged and unusual subjects — two figures in the act of kissing, a physical intimacy rarely depicted in Japanese bijin-ga. Western influence on modern Japanese sexuality and social behavior was a contested topic in 1930s Japan, and the public kiss — made visible by cinema and Western fashion — was a symbol of this influence. Kobayakawa's willingness to depict the kiss directly, without irony or distancing, is characteristic of his commitment to depicting the modern world his subjects actually inhabited.
More Prints by Kobayakawa Kiyoshi
Applying Make-up (Keshô), from the series Two Views of Modern Fashions (Kindai jisei yosooi no uchi ni)
Not set
Woodblock print
Eyes, Hitomi, no. 4 from the series Modern Styles of Makeup
1/1931
Woodblock print
The Mistress Okichi
1932
Japanese Color Woodblock Print on handmade paper
Makeup in Modern Times
1930
Woodblock Print
More Figures Prints
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Kiss was created by Kobayakawa Kiyoshi (小早川清) in Not set.
The Kiss was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (Not set).
The Kiss depicts figures, bijin-ga, and portraits.