Young Woman Holding Flowers

Art Historical Context

**Young Woman Holding Flowers** by Okumura Toshobu, created around 1730, captures the graceful elegance of an Edo-period beauty in a compact woodblock print. Toshinobu, a skilled Japanese printmaker active during the early 18th century, in depictions of fashionable women, reflecting the vibrant ukiyo-e tradition—"pictures of the floating world"—that celebrated everyday pleasures and transient beauty in urban Japan. This hosoban-format print, measuring just 32.4 × 15.1 cm, is a hand-colored woodblock known as *urushi-e*, or lacquer print. The narrow hosoban shape was ideal for affordable, portable art, often collected as single sheets or album pages. The urushi-e technique used lacquer-like glue to create a glossy sheen and vibrant, adherent colors, marking an innovative step toward the multicolored prints that would later define ukiyo-e mastery. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Arts of Asia department, this work highlights Toshinobu's technical prowess during a time when woodblock printing revolutionized access to art. The serene figure cradling flowers evokes themes of delicate femininity and nature's fleeting charm, inviting visitors to appreciate the artistry that bridged traditional craftsmanship with emerging color innovation.

About the Artist

Okumura Toshinobu · 1690–1770

active ca. 1717–1750