From Alice Gordenker, Japan Living Arts, April 2, 2021: “Shima Seien (島成園, 1892–1970) worked as a Nihonga painter at a time when few women in Japan were able to pursue art as a profession. Throughout her career, she struggled against overt discrimination against women artists. This frustration is palpable in her 1918 painting “Untitled” (無題), in which a woman in a black kimono sits on the floor, her hair disheveled, staring directly at the viewer. Under one eye spreads an ugly bruise, as if she has just been struck. The bruise, Seien said, was symbolic of the many abuses routinely inflicted upon women by men.”
By Shima Seien (島成園, 1892–1970), Mudai [Untitled], 1918, 85 × 108 cm, Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts. More in ALT. #WomensHistoryMonth #womanartist #womenartists #japaneseart
