May - Week 1

Written 10/05/2025

Old fashioned Japanese ink drawing of a middle aged Japanese woman.

Who am I studying?

This month, I shall be studying an artist from 19th century Japan (specifically the late Edo period), Katsushika Ōi - also known as Eijo.

Short biography

Well, specifc dates aren't really known about her life but it is known that she studied (and acted as personal assistant to) her father - artist Katsushika Hokusai.
Both Eijo and her father worked in style of Ukiyo-e; which was a popular style in Japan between the 17th and 19th centuries. From what I understand, it consisted of making woodblock prints of certain subjects (be it of beautiful women, grotesque monsters or the enironment) or of painting in that sort of 'printed style'. So generally the paintings were done on a brown or cream coloured background (from what I could gather). So Eijo was both a painter and a printmaker.

She didn't just study under her father, she also became an apprentice for another artist, Tsutsumi Torin III which is where she met her husband Minamizawa Tomei, another apprentice. Their marriage was short-lived, from what I could gather from looking her up it seems to be because she didn't rate his work much and laughed at him! (Girl has to have standards after all)

After her divorce she went back to live with and assist her father (and also care for him since he was in his 60s by this point - not sure how well she did the latter since they were both very messy). But she was more than her father's assistant, she painted/printed her own works too though she was sadly overshadowed by her father (who himself very much acknowledged her skill!). It's possible some of her 'father's' art was actually hers late in his life (his health was poor towards the end of his life). She also made dolls to support herself (I'm guessing especially after her father died in 1849).

It is generally assumed she died around 1866 but her exact date of death is not known. Some say she simply disappeared, never to be seen again...

Why I chose her

Well, I love looking at traditional Japanese art - a lot of it is so beautiful and very illustrative (I love looking at book illustrations for similar reasons, they often are part of a direct story?). So I was trying to see if there were any famous female artitsts pre 20th century and so I found Katsushika Ōi/Eijo!

Examples of her work

A Japanese general is surrounded by four other men while a doctor is cutting a knife on his arm, a large dish is collecting the blood
Operating on Guanyu's Arm, 1850. This is pretty gory, interesting how the General is pretty stoic while his surrounding men are horrified.
A young woman holding a fan with a bowl of flowers next to her, there is Japanese script to her left
Woman With Morning Glories, 1820. I'm not sure if it's just me but her fan looks like it has clouds on it? I like the serenity of this figure (I wish I could understand the writing though...)
A night time scene of a young woman in a garden of cherry blossoms, holding a paintbrush and paper
Beauty Viewing Cherry Blossoms At Night, 1850. I wonder if this one is autobiographical in any way since the woman is depicted as an artist? Anyway, I like the dull greys and black which make the red of her dress almost illuminate as much as the lamp. In general, a really good depiction of how light affects colour I think!
Three young women playing percussion instruments, the centre woman is facing towards the back so you cannot see her face
Three Women Playing Musical Instruments, 1850. Despite no 'environment' so to speak, I find the composition of this one interesting as while in a 'circle' of sorts, none of the women are actually looking at eachother as they play - in their own worlds (the centre woman so in her own world the audience don't even see her face)
A young woman is fulling cloth under a full moon
Kinuta: Beauty Fulling Cloth in the Moonlight, 1850. I find the suble gradient towards the sky very interesting (the moon is the same colour as the background by the woman), I guess because she is fully lit by the moonlight?
Onlookers, obscured by shadow, look into a grand room full of (I think) geishas
Night Scene in the Yoshiwara, 1844-1854 (not sure if the citation is rough or if it took her ten years to do). THIS picture is what made me interested in Katsushika Ōi, the way the geisha are fully lit but osbscured by the bars, how the onlookers are fully visible but obscured by shadows instead (and are far more drab) paints a really interesting scene. The composition is *chef's kiss*

Links to more info about her