Kobayakawa | Make up, Fashions of the Modern World
小早川清 Kiyoshi Kobayakawa (1899-1948)
近代時世粧ノ内 二 化粧
Make up, from the series of Fashions of the Modern World
1930
木版画｜纵绘超大判｜49.8cm x 30.5cm
Woodblock-print ｜Naga Oban tate-e｜49.8cm x 30.5cm
100枚限量发行的第12枚；品相非常好
100 limited edition, number 12; great condition
$8,000
《近代时世妆之内》，是小早川清于1930年至1931年创作的纵版美人画系列，全套共计十二幅。在变革浪潮席卷的昭和初期，女性的各式妆造层出不穷。于是，身为美人画家的小早川清敏锐地捕捉了专属于这个时代的，一个个新潮与传统审美平衡的瞬间，为后世留下了一套极为难得的女子写真。
在同系列内最著名的一作《微醺》中，一位梳着波浪形短发，身着黑底彩色波点的时髦西式打扮姑娘双眸含情脉脉，正沉浸于桌前那杯飞行（Aviation）鸡尾酒带给她的欢愉之中。而在同年创作的本作中，我们感受到的却是与之截然相反的日式传统之美。
与中国一样，数千年来，日本女性对于美白的追求就像对于光明的追求一样从未停止。至少在公元七世纪，日本即从大唐引进了用于美白脸部与肩颈的铅白（碱式碳酸铅），作为美白用白粉的主要成分。但因其会导致铅中毒，后世便多次改进了白粉的配方，诞生了以二氧化钛、高岭土、滑石粉等为主料的多种白粉，以供日常使用、舞台妆造等不同需求。
眼前丰腴的美人将衣衫褪至半胸，正手持粉扑，将白粉均匀地拍涂于肩颈与两腮。本就粉嫩剔透的凝肤一经白粉的修饰，真好似软玉上起霜，更添几分细腻柔美。乌黑的秀发，低垂的眼眸，微张的红唇，一位跃然纸上的“大和抚子”，与衣上的青地抚子纹相映生辉，一瞥一笑，皆是风情万种。
She’s no Moga.
Kobayakawa Kiyoshi was born in Fukuoka, in northern Kyushu, but his designs have helped to define the Tokyo metropolis of the 1920s and early 1930s. Just as mores were changing around the world in places like Weimar Germany, with many of society’s long-held rules tossed away in a frenzy of jazz and booze, so too did Japan enter a unique and vibrant epoch, beginning with the Taishō Era (named like all such eras for the Emperor) and continuing into the early Showa period.
One of the most visible signs of this rapid change in Japan were the “modern girls” – or Mogas – who paraded down the Ginza in flapper styles, who enjoyed cocktails and music, who strayed from the traditional roles of wife and mother and dutiful daughter-in-law.
Kiyoshi, who only made 13 prints, captured these snazzy young women in several famous designs, especially "Tipsy,” which shows one in a colorful polka dot dress with a marcel wave in her hair enjoying what appears to be an Aviation cocktail, a cherry floating happily within.
But this print is the exact opposite, even though it comes from the hand of the same artist in the same series the same year. It shows that change in Japan – and in Japanese art, especially Ukiyoe and Shin Hanga – is often a wrestling match between old and new.
The woman in this print – “Make Up,” from “Styles of Contemporary Makeup” - is a classic bijin, or beautiful woman, with a traditional hairdo and kimono, one that is seductively lowered to show us some luxurious shoulders. This is number 2 in the series; “Tipsy” is number 1.
She appears lost in thought as she applies white powder to her neck, a glimpse of which is always considered mildly erotic in Japanese woodblock prints. Her lowered kimono is as traditional as the “Tipsy” woman’s dress is modern.
By this time, Shin Hanga artists had embraced the Western print tradition of numbering their editions. (As opposed to Ukiyoe publishers, who don’t seem to have kept too much track of how many images they produced.) This example of “Make Up” is number 12 out of a total of 100.
One reason for Kiyoshi’s limited print output was the fact that, for the most part, he was a painter. He won numerous awards for Japanese-style paintings before becoming interested in prints in the 1920s.
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
小早川清 Kiyoshi Kobayakawa (1899-1948)
近代時世粧ノ内 二 化粧
Make up, from the series of Fashions of the Modern World
1930
木版画｜纵绘超大判｜49.8cm x 30.5cm
Woodblock-print ｜Naga Oban tate-e｜49.8cm x 30.5cm
100枚限量发行的第12枚；品相非常好
100 limited edition, number 12; great condition
$8,000
《近代时世妆之内》，是小早川清于1930年至1931年创作的纵版美人画系列，全套共计十二幅。在变革浪潮席卷的昭和初期，女性的各式妆造层出不穷。于是，身为美人画家的小早川清敏锐地捕捉了专属于这个时代的，一个个新潮与传统审美平衡的瞬间，为后世留下了一套极为难得的女子写真。
在同系列内最著名的一作《微醺》中，一位梳着波浪形短发，身着黑底彩色波点的时髦西式打扮姑娘双眸含情脉脉，正沉浸于桌前那杯飞行（Aviation）鸡尾酒带给她的欢愉之中。而在同年创作的本作中，我们感受到的却是与之截然相反的日式传统之美。
与中国一样，数千年来，日本女性对于美白的追求就像对于光明的追求一样从未停止。至少在公元七世纪，日本即从大唐引进了用于美白脸部与肩颈的铅白（碱式碳酸铅），作为美白用白粉的主要成分。但因其会导致铅中毒，后世便多次改进了白粉的配方，诞生了以二氧化钛、高岭土、滑石粉等为主料的多种白粉，以供日常使用、舞台妆造等不同需求。
眼前丰腴的美人将衣衫褪至半胸，正手持粉扑，将白粉均匀地拍涂于肩颈与两腮。本就粉嫩剔透的凝肤一经白粉的修饰，真好似软玉上起霜，更添几分细腻柔美。乌黑的秀发，低垂的眼眸，微张的红唇，一位跃然纸上的“大和抚子”，与衣上的青地抚子纹相映生辉，一瞥一笑，皆是风情万种。
She’s no Moga.
Kobayakawa Kiyoshi was born in Fukuoka, in northern Kyushu, but his designs have helped to define the Tokyo metropolis of the 1920s and early 1930s. Just as mores were changing around the world in places like Weimar Germany, with many of society’s long-held rules tossed away in a frenzy of jazz and booze, so too did Japan enter a unique and vibrant epoch, beginning with the Taishō Era (named like all such eras for the Emperor) and continuing into the early Showa period.
One of the most visible signs of this rapid change in Japan were the “modern girls” – or Mogas – who paraded down the Ginza in flapper styles, who enjoyed cocktails and music, who strayed from the traditional roles of wife and mother and dutiful daughter-in-law.
Kiyoshi, who only made 13 prints, captured these snazzy young women in several famous designs, especially "Tipsy,” which shows one in a colorful polka dot dress with a marcel wave in her hair enjoying what appears to be an Aviation cocktail, a cherry floating happily within.
But this print is the exact opposite, even though it comes from the hand of the same artist in the same series the same year. It shows that change in Japan – and in Japanese art, especially Ukiyoe and Shin Hanga – is often a wrestling match between old and new.
The woman in this print – “Make Up,” from “Styles of Contemporary Makeup” - is a classic bijin, or beautiful woman, with a traditional hairdo and kimono, one that is seductively lowered to show us some luxurious shoulders. This is number 2 in the series; “Tipsy” is number 1.
She appears lost in thought as she applies white powder to her neck, a glimpse of which is always considered mildly erotic in Japanese woodblock prints. Her lowered kimono is as traditional as the “Tipsy” woman’s dress is modern.
By this time, Shin Hanga artists had embraced the Western print tradition of numbering their editions. (As opposed to Ukiyoe publishers, who don’t seem to have kept too much track of how many images they produced.) This example of “Make Up” is number 12 out of a total of 100.
One reason for Kiyoshi’s limited print output was the fact that, for the most part, he was a painter. He won numerous awards for Japanese-style paintings before becoming interested in prints in the 1920s.
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
小早川清 Kiyoshi Kobayakawa (1899-1948)
近代時世粧ノ内 二 化粧
Make up, from the series of Fashions of the Modern World
1930
木版画｜纵绘超大判｜49.8cm x 30.5cm
Woodblock-print ｜Naga Oban tate-e｜49.8cm x 30.5cm
100枚限量发行的第12枚；品相非常好
100 limited edition, number 12; great condition
$8,000
《近代时世妆之内》，是小早川清于1930年至1931年创作的纵版美人画系列，全套共计十二幅。在变革浪潮席卷的昭和初期，女性的各式妆造层出不穷。于是，身为美人画家的小早川清敏锐地捕捉了专属于这个时代的，一个个新潮与传统审美平衡的瞬间，为后世留下了一套极为难得的女子写真。
在同系列内最著名的一作《微醺》中，一位梳着波浪形短发，身着黑底彩色波点的时髦西式打扮姑娘双眸含情脉脉，正沉浸于桌前那杯飞行（Aviation）鸡尾酒带给她的欢愉之中。而在同年创作的本作中，我们感受到的却是与之截然相反的日式传统之美。
与中国一样，数千年来，日本女性对于美白的追求就像对于光明的追求一样从未停止。至少在公元七世纪，日本即从大唐引进了用于美白脸部与肩颈的铅白（碱式碳酸铅），作为美白用白粉的主要成分。但因其会导致铅中毒，后世便多次改进了白粉的配方，诞生了以二氧化钛、高岭土、滑石粉等为主料的多种白粉，以供日常使用、舞台妆造等不同需求。
眼前丰腴的美人将衣衫褪至半胸，正手持粉扑，将白粉均匀地拍涂于肩颈与两腮。本就粉嫩剔透的凝肤一经白粉的修饰，真好似软玉上起霜，更添几分细腻柔美。乌黑的秀发，低垂的眼眸，微张的红唇，一位跃然纸上的“大和抚子”，与衣上的青地抚子纹相映生辉，一瞥一笑，皆是风情万种。
She’s no Moga.
Kobayakawa Kiyoshi was born in Fukuoka, in northern Kyushu, but his designs have helped to define the Tokyo metropolis of the 1920s and early 1930s. Just as mores were changing around the world in places like Weimar Germany, with many of society’s long-held rules tossed away in a frenzy of jazz and booze, so too did Japan enter a unique and vibrant epoch, beginning with the Taishō Era (named like all such eras for the Emperor) and continuing into the early Showa period.
One of the most visible signs of this rapid change in Japan were the “modern girls” – or Mogas – who paraded down the Ginza in flapper styles, who enjoyed cocktails and music, who strayed from the traditional roles of wife and mother and dutiful daughter-in-law.
Kiyoshi, who only made 13 prints, captured these snazzy young women in several famous designs, especially "Tipsy,” which shows one in a colorful polka dot dress with a marcel wave in her hair enjoying what appears to be an Aviation cocktail, a cherry floating happily within.
But this print is the exact opposite, even though it comes from the hand of the same artist in the same series the same year. It shows that change in Japan – and in Japanese art, especially Ukiyoe and Shin Hanga – is often a wrestling match between old and new.
The woman in this print – “Make Up,” from “Styles of Contemporary Makeup” - is a classic bijin, or beautiful woman, with a traditional hairdo and kimono, one that is seductively lowered to show us some luxurious shoulders. This is number 2 in the series; “Tipsy” is number 1.
She appears lost in thought as she applies white powder to her neck, a glimpse of which is always considered mildly erotic in Japanese woodblock prints. Her lowered kimono is as traditional as the “Tipsy” woman’s dress is modern.
By this time, Shin Hanga artists had embraced the Western print tradition of numbering their editions. (As opposed to Ukiyoe publishers, who don’t seem to have kept too much track of how many images they produced.) This example of “Make Up” is number 12 out of a total of 100.
One reason for Kiyoshi’s limited print output was the fact that, for the most part, he was a painter. He won numerous awards for Japanese-style paintings before becoming interested in prints in the 1920s.
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
Kiyoshi Kobayakawa (1899-1948)
Kobayakawa Kiyoshi was born in Fukuoka, in northern Kyushu, but his designs have helped to define the Tokyo metropolis of the 1920s and early 1930s when Japan entered a unique and vibrant epoch, beginning with the Taishō Era (named like all such eras for the Emperor) and continuing into the early Showa period. One of the most visible signs of this rapid change in Japan were the “modern girls” – or Mogas – who paraded down the Ginza in flapper styles, who enjoyed cocktails and music, who strayed from the traditional roles of wife and mother and dutiful daughter-in-law.
Kiyoshi, who only made 13 prints, captured these snazzy young women in several famous designs, especially "Tipsy,” which shows one in a colorful polka dot dress with a marcel wave in her hair enjoying what appears to be an Aviation cocktail, a cherry floating happily within. It is among the most famous of all Shin Hanga works.
One reason for Kiyoshi’s limited print output was the fact that, for the most part, he was a painter. He won numerous awards for Japanese-style paintings before becoming interested in prints in the 1920s.
We’re lucky he did. For a fleeting instant, he captured a moment when the old and new felt balanced. In just a few years, fascism and darkness would wipe away the Mogas like they’d been a dream.