Sunrise at Susaki Point (New Year's Print) / Katsushika Hokusai

Accession Number

1954/1.472

Title

Sunrise at Susaki Point (New Year's Print)

Artist

Katsushika Hokusai

Artist Nationality

Japanese

Artist Life Dates

1760 - 1849

Medium and Support

color woodblock print on paper

Object Creation Date

circa 1800-1820

Object Creation Place

Asia

Japan

Creation Place 1

Asia

Creation Place 2

Japan

Credit Line

Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker

Style/Group/Movement

ukiyo e; surimono

Inscription

Printed signature of the artist: Gakyôjin Hokusai

Period

Japan, Edo Period (1615-1868)

Dimensions

12.86 cm x 18.26 cm (5 1/16 in. x 7 3/16 in.)

Century

19th century

Primary Object Classification

Print

Primary Object Type

color print

Physical Description

A geisha is shown strolling in the countryside, with her right hand over her forehead--as if looking into the distance--and a basket in her left hand. The backdrop is the rising sun-the give-away that this is a New Year’s print—seen over distant mountains. A poem lies on the left-hand side of the print.

Subject Matter

In the final decade of the eighteenth century, there was a severe wave of government censorship against any publications—image or text—that could be construed as political satire or as detrimental to public morals. At first this crackdown had a devastating impact on print publishers and artists, who found themselves in manacles if they attempted to continue their staple products of erotica and pin-up prints of courtesans and actors. They soon rebounded, however, with new formats and new themes. One outlet for artistic genius was the surimono, the privately commissioned print that could avoid the censor’s eye. Usually issued as New Year’s greetings by members of a poetry club or clique, surimono are small in scale and richly decorated with the highest quality pigments, including metallic shades of silver, gold, and copper.

Katsushika Hokusai, who is best known in the West for his landscape prints of Mount Fuji, evokes here a quietly nostalgic scene of a geisha (itinerant musicians) strolling in the countryside. Her right hand rests over her forehead--as if looking into the distance--with a basket in her left hand. The backdrop is the rising sun-the give-away that this is a New Year’s print—seen over distant mountains. A poem lies on the left-hand side of the print.

Primary Keywords

basket

bridges (built works)

calligraphy

egg

geisha

kimono

sunrise

trees

woman

Secondary Keywords

animal material

animal material by form or function

associated concepts

buildings and the land

containers

containers by form

costume

costume by form

descriptors

earth sciences concepts

egg and egg components

image-making processes and techniques

landscapes (environments)

main garments

materials

materials by origin

natural landscapes

objects we use

people

people (agents)

people and culture

people by gender

people by occupation

people in service occupations

physical sciences concepts

plants

processes and techniques

processes and techniques by specific type

scientific concepts

settlements and landscapes

single built works

single built works by function

single built works by specific type

transportation structures

transportation structures by form

vegetation and vegetation components

vegetation components

woody plants

writing (processes)

Rights

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Collection

University of Michigan Museum of Art

Image Size

1097 x 759

File Size

89 KB

Record

1954/1.472

Link to this Item

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1954-sl-1.472/1954_1.472.jpg content_copy

In public portfolios

Japan Pax Tokugawa 1600-1868 (500)

kuzushiji workshop (28)

Satire (212)

Manifest

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1954-SL-1.472:1954_1.472.JPG content_copy