Itō Shinsui (Japan, 1898-1972) Print, oban tate-e, from the series Shin bijin jūnishi (新美人十二姿), Twelve Forms of New Beauty, plate Shima no onna (島の女), Woman of Oshima Island. Signed upper left Shinsui ga, Ito stamp. Publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō and stamp. Dated the 2nd day of the 10th month of Taisho 11 (1922). On the reverse, numbered 192/200 (minor restorations). Size 43 x 25.9 cm The series 'Twelve Forms of New Beauty' was commissioned by the Society for Research into Ukiyo-e (Ukiyo-e kenkyūkai). Two hundred copies of each print were made. As with her first series, Shinsui's aim, as the title of the series suggests, is to represent new forms of feminine beauty in keeping with the values of the Shin Hanga and the artist's ideals. In this print, Shinsui depicts an anko (literally 'older sister') from the island of Oshima. These women are recognisable by the tenugui, a thin indigo-dyed towel, they wear on their heads and the bucket of water they carry. They stand out against a clear, starry night sky, far removed from the light pollution of modern cities. Here, Shinsui delivers a sentimental portrait in which the young woman appears innocently untouched by twentieth-century modernity. Reference: This print is reproduced in: Uhlenbeck, Dwinger, Ouweleen, Shin hanga: Les Estampes Modernes du Japon 1900-1960, Éditions Hazan (2022), p. 54 A similar print in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, no. 2002.161.169