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Women Airing Books and Clothes
Katsukawa Shunsho 勝川春章 (1726-1792)
Late 18th century
- Medium
- Hanging scroll mounted on panel; ink, color, and gold on silk
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- H x W (image): 157.1 × 82.7 cm (61 7/8 × 32 9/16 in)
- Culture
- Japanese
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
The annual airing of books and clothing to prevent mildew and insects takes place each year in summer. Four women and a young boy lay out paper-covered books removed from protective cabinets. The books are hung over a line to air while one woman becomes distracted from the task by what she finds in an open book. The cuckoo flying overhead is often associated with images of courtesans or with poetry expressing love and longing.
