The Ameya

A street vendor in a blue kimono and headwrap sits on a wooden crate at a portable stall, shaping candy while a cluster of children and young women in patterned kimonos lean in to watch; one child clutches an infant with a red-and-pink floral robe, and another man carries a baby on his back at right. Behind them a row of wooden shop-fronts lines the street, hung with kanji signboards and dark red banners, with a rickshaw and its waiting puller at the far left. The palette is muted browns and tans with accents of blue, red, and orange in the clothing; the scene is painted in loose, visible brushstrokes. Robert Blum, "The Ameya," 1893, oil on canvas.