白絹レノ地波水玉模様単衣|Summer Kimono (Hito-e) with Waves and Waterdrops

Unknown

1920s–30s · Printed gauze-weave (ro) silk · Asian Art

Waves were a major theme in Japanese painting and prints and the subject of the archipelago’s most iconic artwork, The Great Wave, by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). The playful design on this unlined gauze- or leno-weave summer kimono modernizes that print’s turbulent waters by depicting only the foaming swells and splashing blue droplets. The weaving technique creates an airy fabric with fine stripes of openwork.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1920s–30s

Medium

Printed gauze-weave (ro) silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of John C. Weber, 2023