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Daily Activities with the Seven Flowers of Autumn

Daily Activities with the Seven Flowers of Autumn

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Utagawa Sadatora

References to the seven flowers of autumn first appeared in the eighth-century Japanese poetry anthology Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves, comprising some 4,500 waka poems written by poets from the imperial courts. Since then, the seven flowers of autumn have held strong poetic associations with the emotional subtleties of life and love, and they appear throughout the literature and visual arts of Japan. Here, Sadatora refers, in particular, to the flowers’ associations with desire and beauty as embodied in three frolicking women. The seven flowers of autumn include bush clover, Japanese pampas grass, arrowroot, pink, patrina or maiden flower, mistflower or purple trousers, and the Chinese bellflower.
Artist
Utagawa Sadatora
(Japanese, active 1818 - 1844)
Title
Daily Activities with the Seven Flowers of Autumn
Date
1830-1840
Medium
Color woodcut
Dimensions
377 x 778 mm Overall
Credit
Bequest of John H. Van Vleck
Accession No.
1980.2761a-c
Classification
Prints
Geography
Japan

Related

By 1925, purchased in Japan by Frank Lloyd Wright; ca. 1926, acquired by The Bank of Wisconsin; 1928, sold to Edward Burr Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 1943, passed through inheritance to Edward’s son, John H. Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 9 January 1980, bequeathed by John H. Van Vleck to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Mueller, Laura. "Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School." Leiden, The Netherlands: Hotei Publishing, 2007. p. 187, no. 176

  • Summer Breeze: The Fan in Japanese Prints: Chazen Museum of Art, 7/7/2012–9/9/2012
  • Utagawa: Masters of the Japanese Print, 1770-1900: Chazen Museum of Art, 11/2/2009–11/26/2009
  • Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School: Chazen Museum of Art, 11/3/2007–1/6/2008

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