Russian's Love for a Lady (Oroshiyajin fujin wo aisu)

This Yokohama-e woodblock print in ōban format, signed Ichiryūsai Yoshitoyo and dated 1860, is titled "Russian's Love for a Lady" (Oroshiyajin fujin wo aisu, 魯西亜人婦人を愛す) and depicts a Russian foreigner courting a Japanese woman. The Art Institute of Chicago holds the sheet under accession number 1968.372 as a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold G. Henderson; the print measures 34.9 by 23.5 cm. The print belongs to the very productive early Yokohama-e period of 1860, the first full calendar year after the opening of the Yokohama treaty port; the Russians had concluded their own treaty with Japan in 1858 and were among the foreign nationalities resident at Yokohama. The subject of cross-cultural courtship was a recurring one in early Yokohama-e and tapped into a particular Edo public preoccupation with what the new foreign presence might mean for Japanese women. Yoshitoyo treats the subject with a mixture of journalistic observation and visual humour characteristic of his work: the Russian's elaborate costume and bearing are presented with care while the encounter itself is staged for the visual interest of the Edo viewer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also holds a Yoshitoyo print of the same title and date (Met 437368), confirming that the design circulated widely in Edo in 1860. The sheet is preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago's collection of late-Edo Japanese prints.