Aikawa Minwa
Follow Us
Aikawa Minwa
Manga Hyaku-Jo (Sketches of a Hundred Women), 1814
3059-BK
10 1/4 x 7 1/8 in. (26 x 18 cm)
Aikawa Minwa died in 1821, living at various times in Kyoto and Osaka. He is chiefly known for this book which strikes me as very atttractive both for content and printing. Hillier thinks less highly of it as art but mentions "the wonderfully sensitive printing in this book, blocks for pale pink and grey assisting the ink line". I would say one has to take the subject into account: women in their elegant activities or hard-working arts and crafts of weaving, spinning, printing, fabric dyeing, sewing, washing material in the water, planting rice, winnowing the grain, taking the harvest-or being elegant on a balcony admiring the moon and the blossom; playing instruments, dancing, performing and teaching tea ceremony etc.etc.It seems to me an uncommonly attractive book and that Hillier is somewhat insensitive about the themes. Mitchell describes it fairly fully, page 404. This copy has its original binding which, in this instance, is embossed coffee-colored paper with streaks of darker brown across irregularly and no title label.
Price Upon Request