A Beauty Behind a Screen
About 1750
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk
Dimensions
30.4 × 37.1 cm (12 × 14 5/8 in.), including mount and knobs: 127.6 × 56.2 cm (50 1/4 × 22 1/8 in.)
Classification
hanging scroll
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
151047
Art Historical Context
Miyagawa Chôshun's *A Beauty Behind a Screen*, created around 1750, captures the elegance of Edo-period Japan through the lens of ukiyo-e, the "pictures of the floating world" that celebrated fleeting pleasures like beauty and theater. Chôshun (1683–1752), a master of bijin-ga (images of beautiful women), depicts a graceful figure partially veiled by a screen, evoking and mystery in the pleasure districts of 18th-century Tokyo. hanging scroll, housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Arts of collection, reflects the era's fascination with refined femininity amid Japan's prosperous urban cultur...