Courtesan and Two Kamuro

Held in the Frederick W. Gookin Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago (accession 1939.944), Courtesan and Two Kamuro is a chuban color woodblock print measuring 25.8 by 20.1 centimeters and dated to 1766. The sheet has been trimmed to an unusual oval shape, a decorative aftertreatment that emphasizes the intimate, miniature-like character of the composition and that recalls the lacquered or enameled medallions of contemporary luxury craft. The subject is a Yoshiwara courtesan of the high-ranking oiran or kamuro-attended grade, accompanied by her two child apprentices (the kamuro who served the great courtesans of the licensed pleasure quarter as both servants and trainees). The grouping is a quintessential bijin-ga (beautiful-women picture) subject and a staple of the ukiyo-e repertoire.

The print follows the 1765 calendar campaign by one year and demonstrates the way the new nishiki-e techniques that Hyakki and his collaborators had pioneered for private use immediately migrated into more commercial Yoshiwara subject matter. The polychrome palette renders the courtesan's elaborate kimono patterning and the kamuro's contrasting juvenile costume with the chromatic precision and decorative density that became the hallmark of Suzuki Harunobu's mature style and that of the entire early nishiki-e generation. The provenance of the Art Institute's impression in the Frederick W. Gookin Collection reflects the work of one of the earliest American collectors and scholars of Japanese woodblock prints, whose holdings, donated to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1939, helped establish the museum as a major repository of ukiyo-e in the early twentieth century.