Rouge

"Rouge" — the cosmetic applied to lips and cheeks that was one of the defining markers of feminine self-presentation in Taisho and Showa-era Japan — is the title of this undated Senpan print, suggesting either a figure in the act of applying cosmetics or a composition focused on the vivid red of the cosmetic itself as a color field or symbolic element. Senpan's occasional beauty and grooming subjects — less common in his work than festivals and outdoor nudes — reveal his interest in the private moments of feminine self-preparation that socially presented figures never showed.