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狂斎百図 「金玉モツリ方」 「下手のよこずき」
Entangled Balls (Kindama motsurikata), An Inept Dilettante (Heta no yokozuki), from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
狂斎百図 「金玉モツリ方」 「下手のよこずき」
Kawanabe Kyôsai (Japanese, 1831–1889)
Japanese
Edo period
1863–66 (Bunkyû 3–Keiô 2)
Medium/Technique
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Vertical yotsugiri (quarter ôban); 18.4 x 12.6 cm (7 1/4 x 4 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.22641
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
Kyōsai first showcased his talent as a humorist in a series of 100 small cartoons. The lower part of this sheet features a comical self-portrait of the artist (his name is written on his kimono) at a shogakai—one of the commercial painting and calligraphy parties he often attended. Unlike the real Kyōsai, though, the cartoon artist is so incompetent that the critics pinch their noses, pointing and laughing at his work.
Catalogue Raisonné
Sadamura, Kawanabe Kyôsai no chôsen (2023), #194; Osaka City Mus., Edo no giga (2018), #227; Kaikan sanjû shûnen kinen Kawanabe Kyôsai kinen bijutsukan cat. (2008), p. 102, #0773 (sheet of 4); Clark, Demon of Painting (1993), p. 20, fig. 7
DescriptionMFA impressions:
Uncut sheet: 11.45393.21
Right side only: 11.22646, 11.36997
Left side only: 11.22641, 11.37000
Uncut sheet: 11.45393.21
Right side only: 11.22646, 11.36997
Left side only: 11.22641, 11.37000
Signed
Kyôsai (on painting)
狂斎
狂斎
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)
NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.
NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.