Image: Torii Kiyomasu II, Planting in Summer (c. 1724-1736).

For our Saturday art post we go back to Edo Japan to a scene of summer planting of rice.

The artist is Torii Kiyomasu II (there is a Kiyomasu I, also of the Torii school, but the relationship is not clear).

This painting is called Planting in Summer, from a series called Farm Life in the Four Seasons, produced circa 1724-1736. It is a woodblock print and this version is in the British Museum. The Museum offers a short description:

“Women are planting the young rice. A man brings plants in baskets, and a woman with a child brings refreshments. Scenes of the countryside and of peasant life are rare in the ‘Ukiyoe’ print before the nineteenth century. This copy is trimmed, but others retain the artist’s and publisher’s names printed at the bottom.”

The Art Institute of Chicago has a version with the text, as well as other pieces from the series.

###

We post on art on Saturdays, but the rest of the time we are doing a dining guide for Washington, D.C. So if you are around the city or thinking of coming to our fair capital, be sure to check out the rest of the site. We have 300+ recommended restaurants in the guide, that you can sort by cuisine, neighborhood, and current operating status (dine-in and/or take-out, etc.) in either LIST or MAP format.  Though operating status is changing day-to-day, so be sure to double-check.

To ensure you don’t miss out on our postings about either art or food, then please give us a follow.  We are on FB, Insta, and Twitter.  Click on the icons at the top or bottom of this page to stay up to date.