Bijin With Fan in Garden

A bijin fans herself in a garden, the rhythmic motion of the fan against summer heat creating a small, private moment within the larger world of the seasonal garden in this composition by Yumeji. The fan was among the most expressive objects in the Taisho bijin's repertoire — a tool of cooling and of concealment, of beckoning and of dismissal, capable of communicating emotional states that the face was expected to suppress. Yumeji's figure uses hers with the same ambiguity that attaches to all his accessories: it is a prop and an expression simultaneously.