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![[I've painted] "a bruised woman who cursed her fate and cursed the world." - Shima Seien
In her remarkable work 無題 (Untitled), Shima Seien (島成園) poignantly depicts a woman (actually herself) in an all black kimono sitting on the floor, her hair disheveled, staring directly at us. Under one eye spreads an ugly bruise, as if she has just been struck. Rather than use a model, Shima studied her own face in a mirror when working on this painting. The bruise, she said, was symbolic of the many abuses routinely inflicted upon women by men.
The long history of paintings of beautiful women, 美人画 aka bijin-ga, did not encompass introspection and social criticism. With her introspective and provocative work 無題 (Untitled), first shown at the first "trial" exhibition of the Osaka Discussion Group (Osaka Sawakai 大阪茶話会) in 1918, Shima broke the traditional model.
The very act of self-portraiture in the bijin-ga genre was a radical break from tradition, let alone a woman who directly engages the viewer with her stare. Also, "Untitled" as the name for the painting was seen as a provocation leading a critic writing for the newspaper Osaka Nichinichi Shinbun to rant that not giving the painting a title was "cowardly" with an accompanying illustration mocking it as a "courtship advertisement" and dismissed the bruise on her face as non-existent.
This is a painting in progress or "interrupted" as reflected by the unfinished grass and leaves on the screen background. Contemporary commentaries in English sometimes describe the bluish tint below the figure's eye (痣 aza) as a benign nevus or just a bruise, but almost all recognize the artwork as pioneering. Since 2008, it has been named by Osaka city as a "Tangible Cultural Property."
Shima was selected for the 1912 Bunten (Ministry of Education Exhibition) when she was only 19; however, by 1920, she accepted an arranged marriage and ceased to paint such provocative work or continue her mark on art history.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:dtli5s7b2qnvvqcgh74ruri5/bafkreiga2mlausrs3x645z3ssurvekkeq66yb27spncknkbc6e6cgqnabu)
[I've painted] "a bruised woman who cursed her fate and cursed the world." - Shima Seien In her remarkable work 無題 (Untitled), Shima Seien (島成園) poignantly depicts a woman (actually herself) in an all black kimono sitting on the floor, her hair disheveled, staring directly at us. Under one eye spreads an ugly bruise, as if she has just been struck. Rather than use a model, Shima studied her own face in a mirror when working on this painting. The bruise, she said, was symbolic of the many abuses routinely inflicted upon women by men. The long history of paintings of beautiful women, 美人画 aka bijin-ga, did not encompass introspection and social criticism. With her introspective and provocative work 無題 (Untitled), first shown at the first "trial" exhibition of the Osaka Discussion Group (Osaka Sawakai 大阪茶話会) in 1918, Shima broke the traditional model. The very act of self-portraiture in the bijin-ga genre was a radical break from tradition, let alone a woman who directly engages the viewer with her stare. Also, "Untitled" as the name for the painting was seen as a provocation leading a critic writing for the newspaper Osaka Nichinichi Shinbun to rant that not giving the painting a title was "cowardly" with an accompanying illustration mocking it as a "courtship advertisement" and dismissed the bruise on her face as non-existent. This is a painting in progress or "interrupted" as reflected by the unfinished grass and leaves on the screen background. Contemporary commentaries in English sometimes describe the bluish tint below the figure's eye (痣 aza) as a benign nevus or just a bruise, but almost all recognize the artwork as pioneering. Since 2008, it has been named by Osaka city as a "Tangible Cultural Property." Shima was selected for the 1912 Bunten (Ministry of Education Exhibition) when she was only 19; however, by 1920, she accepted an arranged marriage and ceased to paint such provocative work or continue her mark on art history.
無題 (Untitled) by 島成園 Shima Seien (Japanese) - Ink & color on silk / 1918 - 大阪市立美術館 Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts (Japan) #womeninart #womanartist #art #femaleartist #ShimaSeien #島成園 #SeienShima #JapaneseArt #womensart #大阪市立美術館 #OsakaCityMuseumofFineArts #美人画 #びじんが #JapaneseArtist #SelfPortrait
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