woman who combs her hair

This is a representative work by Goyo Hashiguchi, a pioneer of the Taisho new print movement. In 1987, a two-page series of stamps with "Woman in Makeup" was sold. A woman combing her black hair, which is probably wet after taking a bath, with a boxwood comb seems to emerge from the silver background. She is dressed in a crisp indigo yukata and her white skin peeking out from the yukata, expressing a cool and elegant feminine beauty. The vermilion color of the yukata's obi adds a subtle touch of color to the cool, cold colors of the painting. The fragile beauty is accentuated by the strong, rhythmic lines of the yukata against the very thin outlines of the skin. The most notable feature of this work is the depiction of hair. Goyo himself communicated closely with engravers and printers to create prints as his ideal one-piece painting. The precise finish of each beautifully undulating strand of hair shows the high skill of the Edo Ukiyoe printmaking tradition. While the techniques of mica printmaking and hair splitting have been firmly inherited, the model woman is realistic and has a modern impression with a hint of Taisho Romanticism.