Woman Washing Hair

A woman washes her hair — head bent forward over a basin or the edge of a stream, the long hair hanging wet and heavy — in this intimate domestic subject by Senpan from around 1932. The act of washing hair was among the most private daily rituals, one that exposed a woman's physical reality in a way that more composed public presentations did not, and Senpan approaches it with the same direct, unsentimental attention he brought to his outdoor figure compositions. The wet hair's weight and darkness provide the composition's strong visual element.