“Scorning a Poor but Honest Person”
“Scorning a Poor but Honest Person” is an ukiyo-e woodblock print with ink and color on paper. It is by the Japanese artist, Torii Kiyonaga, from 1784.
This image is from the series by Kiyonaga titled A Treasury of Admonitions to Young Ladies which provided guidance to young women. Other titles from the series include “A Woman who Neglects Her Husband’s Parents Invites Criticism”, “Liking Flatterers and Disliking Virtuous People”, and “Women who Enjoy the Sorrows of Others”.
This is a wonderful example of a bijin-ga woodblock print. Bijin-ga is the term given to depictions of beautiful women in Japanese art. Kiyonaga created several bijin-ga series in the 1780s, which is often regarded as the peak of his career.
One of the greatest inspirations for many of the famous Western artists during the end of the nineteenth century was the Japanese style, and especially Japanese prints, which were coveted and gathered by art collectors. The Japanese style was so popular with the Western world, that the craze was even given a term; Japonism, or Japonisme in France and Anglo-Japanese in Britain. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan broke their isolationist foreign policy and began trading with the West. Japanese goods flooded the market and Europeans and Americans were inspired in a new way.
“Scorning a Poor but Honest Person” is currently in the collections at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
For more on Torii Kiyonaga, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
