Komura Settai’s Umbrellas
by Hanna
(Komura Settai’s “Osen,” printed in 1941 after his death.)
Last winter, the Saitama Museum of Art held a spectacular exhibit on Komura Settai (1887 – 1940), an early 20th century print designer. His images graced Shiseido perfume bottles, the covers of the author Izumi Kyoka’s novels, and the sets of kabuki stages. Since the sky today is growing grayer and grayer, I thought this image appropriate to remember the playful aspect of rain.
Beautiful.
Your blog is very refreshing and enjoyable.
Doubt if my name means anything to you but we are related. My mother was Alberta McGaughey—Mel’s oldest sister.
Keep up the beautiful blog.
gene
Dear Gene,
Thank you for calling my attention to the fact that we’re related! Your name does ring a bell when placed next to Aunt Alberta’s. :-) And I hope to continue seeing your friendly comments here from time to time. Thank you!
Warm wishes,
Hanna
What a beautiful image! And what timing, as I sit here watching lightning flashes out my window.
I was just at the art museum a few days ago, and notice a painting of Kasamori Osen by Masuda Gyokujo, c. 1925-35. Previously, I had only seen pictures of her by Harunobu… So it got me thinking, I wonder how many other 20th century artists paid tribute to her and to Harunobu by choosing her as a theme (or, as seen here, simply making reference in the title)? What a wonderful coincidence that you should post this now. Thanks!
Dear Travis,
Oh do tell me more! If I remember correctly, this image was only one in a series about Osen, but I don’t know her story. I’m so un-knowledgable about everything Edo, it’s almost embarrassing!
Best,
Hanna
Thinking about it a second time, I wonder if I’m just jumping to conclusions seeing a picture of umbrellas titled “Osen” and assuming it to be a reference to Kasamori Osen. After all, her only association really with umbrellas is the pun..
In any case, I actually don’t know that much about Osen myself, except that she was (so far as we know) a real person, and a frequent subject of prints by Suzuki Harunobu.
This here is, to my mind, one of the most famous/standard images of Osen. Looking it up, we discover that she was a waitress at the Kagiya teashop, inside the precincts of Kasamori Jinja in the Yanaka neighborhood of Edo. It was not uncommon for prints artists and painters to choose certain local beauties, such as a local waitress, as a favorite subject, and apparently Harunobu took a liking to her.
She was not yet 20 when Harunobu died, so I guess that says something about her age in these images: somewhere around age 17-19.
Thanks for getting my juices flowing. I think I’m going to go do a little bit more research (not too much; I have classwork to do) and write a wiki article about her :)
What a lovely print! I really like the sense of movement in it!