Woman viewing a silhouette

This <em>uchiwa-e</em> ‘fan-shaped composition’ by Utagawa Sadahide (1807–73), is one of several that he designed featuring <em>yūjo</em> (courtesans) peering at the profiles of brothel quarter patrons silhouetted on <em>shōji</em> screen doors. The scene is set early in a relationship, in the moments before their introduction at a teahouse function. To the left, carefully-prepared food and a large kettle of sake are laid out for the engagements that will follow. The conceit here appears to be playful: the <em>yūjo</em> is trying to make out the identity of her patron – and the silhouette is certainly distinctive. Whoever he is, etiquette required that her entertainments should be conducted with the greatest professionalism. But there is also a tacit acknowledgement of a double standard in the quarters: historically, while the identities of Yoshiwara women were public knowledge – even feted – their clients had always enjoyed some anonymity, often arriving and leaving under hooded disguises. Sadahide’s observation is acutely perceptive and matter of fact, qualities that served an interest that was to prove even more profitable for the artist: documentation and reportage of the local scene during times of momentous change. In this sense, it is his ground-breaking views of the rapidly changing fabric of international relations at the port of Yokohama that secured the commercial success of his inquisitive mind and analytical, purposeful eye.

Source: David Bell, 'Floating world at Te Papa: the Heriot collection', <em>Tuhinga</em>, 30 (2019), pp. 56-81.

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   May 2019