S. Tomi Japanese Geisha Ozashiki

An original early 20th-century gouache painting, S. Tomi, Japanese Geisha Ozashiki.

A captivating Japanese painting dating from the early decades of the 20th century. The silhouetted style derives from the ancient Japanese woodblock tradition, allowing soft light to glow in this nighttime scene. Traditionally, ozashiki, or Geisha parties, were an everyday affair with dining and drinking, and artful performances from the Geishas. This combination of informality and high art is captured in this atmospheric composition.

No biographical information about S. Tomi is readily available, but the occurrence of the artist's paintings in England suggests that they had connections with Britain, if not worked here. Stylistic elements of the artist's work also point to a hybrid of Japanese and Western origins.

The two-dimensional aesthetic of Japanese woodblock prints, with silhouetted forms used as a popular motif, were often found in European fin-de-siècle etchings, lithographs and woodcuts. Figures were stylised into decorative abstractions by representing them as flat expanses of colour, found in the work of Toulouse-Lautrec for example.

One of a set of three that we have for sale (see JY-310 to JY-312).