Portrait of a woman

A woman's portrait — facing the viewer or turned slightly away — appears in this undated composition that bears all the hallmarks of the Yumeji-style bijin: the large, melancholy eyes; the slender, elongated form; the slight downward cast that suggests introspection rather than withdrawal. Portrait of a woman in Yumeji's work is rarely specific: the subject is not a documented individual but an archetype — the woman who feels too much, who exists in the space between what she desires and what is possible for her. The universality of that position is what made his women so culturally resonant.