GEISHA POURING TEA (2017)Painting by George Shchegol.
As foreshadowed by the title, the art world recounted here focuses on the figure of the geisha, introducing her, at first, in her historical significance as well as in her distinctive peculiarities, and then highlighting, in a second moment, the evolution of the ways in which the latter figure has been represented, by some of the best-known Japanese masters, but also, almost surprisingly, Western ones. Starting with the first purpose, I want to pause for a moment to address a common misconception, aimed at associating, too frequently, the figure of the geisha with that of the courtesan. In fact, the iconic woman of the Japanese tradition is not at all comparable to a prostitute, as her ancient profession is to entertain clients with dances, songs and games, highly skilled tasks, since to acquire them one must pass a rigid and very hard training, which, lasting five or six years, leads to the learning of an absolutely not vulgar, but rather studied and elegant seduction. Corroborating when just stated is the very origin of the word geisha, which, formed by two ideograms, unites the meanings of art and profession, to be understood as the identifier of a professional artist whose role is mainly focused on the performing arts of theater, dance and music. From a historical point of view, however, the geisha woman was preceded in the early days of Japanese history by the figure of the saburuko, a typical girl with difficult family or personal circ*mstances who offered sexual services, although, in situations of greater ease and cultural training, she could also lend herself to work as a poster girl for social events. The juxtaposition of this type of maiden with the refinement of the performing arts occurred, however, in the Heian period, a historical phase, which, particularly flourishing in the aesthetic-creative sector, brought the fledgling figure of the geisha closer to the more typical cliché of the married man, who used to entertain with courtesans without arousing, at the time, any scandal. However, the sharp break from the figure of the prostitute occurred around the early eighteenth century, a time when the appearance of the first female art professionals was recorded, such that where courtesans and oirans existed to satisfy the most basic sexual needs, geisha rose to a more noble and refined role. Speaking of the figurative arts, we must inexorably refer to one of the most popular moments in Japanese art history, namely the Edo period, the era of Utamaro and Hokusai par excellence, in which highly refined prints, executed with great technical skill, proliferated, giving voice to the economic and social transformations of the time, in which woodcuts were favored along with heroic, amorous, fantastic subjects and, the object of our interest, beautiful women. Precisely the latter became the protagonists of the art of bijin-ga (literally pictures of beautiful women), that is, works aimed at immortalizing the female gender in all its versions, such as that of virgins, mothers of families, poetesses and even geisha.
SEIBO MARIA & THE RISING SUN OF JUSTICE (2023)Painting by Jariku Les Ateliers.
GEISHA WITH UMBRELLA (2015)Painting by George Shchegol.
Distinguished in this context was the work of Kitagawa Utamaro, a Japanese painter and draughtsman born in 1753 known primarily for his masterful studies of women, as well as for being one of the greatest masters of ukiyo-e, or the most typical Japanese artistic print, imprinted on paper with wooden matrices. The Utamaro-geisha relationship is well rendered by two prints held at the MET (New York), respectively Geisha Walking through the Snow at Night (1797) and Geisha and Attendant on a Rainy Night (1797). As for the former, it depicts the aforementioned subject walking through, equipped with an umbrella, a snowstorm, a precipitation she faces in the company of a man, perhaps one of her customers, caught while he is intent on carrying the comely maiden's musical instrument, probably a shamisen. Such a composition is rendered dreamlike by the whiteness of the blizzard, which does its best to fall thick and fast on the effigies, only to vanish, almost unbelievably, on the ground. Another snowstorm is the protagonist, along with the figure of a geisha, of Kikukawa Eizan's woodcut titled Snow or Beauty in the Snow, a work made between 1815 and 1842, in which a "tatsumi geisha" working in the f*ckagawa district of Edo takes shape, intent on advancing through the snowflakes wearing geta sandals, which, made of paulownia wood, are sock without fear of the cold, since they have no socks. In this context it is good to open a brief parenthesis, aimed at making known how the bijin-ga genre underwent a crisis in the 18th century, only to gradually reassert itself during the 20th century, a time when the greatest exponents of the art, aimed at immortalizing maidens, were Hashiguci Goyō, Torii Kotondo and Itō Shinsui. The latter masters operated during the period when Japan's centuries-old isolationism ended, during which the West discovered, to its amazement and admiration, the incredible Eastern iconographic and technical repertoire, just as Aubrey Vincent Beardsley and Alec Shanks did. The former of the two, by means of the Japanese model, innovated Old World illustration, inspired mainly by the sinuous line, flat hues and eccentric silhouettes accentuated by the serpentine poses of the aforementioned Kikukawa Eizan, a model that enabled him to transform his geishas into perturbing femme fatales, just as is evident in The Climax, an illustration of 1893. Finally, regarding this last Beardsley masterpiece, the work, part of the illustration of the French version of Oscar Wilde's play, Salome, attributes to woman the traditionally male vices of lust, desire to dominate and materialism, which take shape in a figure intent on floating in the air, while holding in her hands the head of John the Baptist, who, after kissing it, drips with blood feeding the phallic lily. At the conclusion, works by Artmajeur artists depicting geishas will explore further topics concerning this ancient and fascinating figure.
AKIKO (2022)Painting by Roberta Conti.
Roberta conti:Akiko
Artmajeur artist Roberta Conti's oil painting pursues the intent, as stated by the painter herself, of revealing the mysterious world of a geisha, through the use of a "realism," aimed at having its focal point in the face of the effigy, who, painted with white makeup, might have inspired the title of the work itself, as the Japanese female name Akiko would seem to lead back to different kanji, among them at 明 of aki, a character that means, among other things, brilliant. It is precisely the aforementioned shining whiteness that grabs all the viewer's attention, who is extremely concentrated in contemplating the beautiful clear face of a maiden, which, standing out forcefully against an abstract violet background, is able to lead us back to the features of the more traditional geisha makeup, which Akiko herself emulated, decreeing the triumph of the seductive power of the upper body, as opposed to the lower body, where, in this case, there is also a deep, but less eye-catching, cleavage. Speaking of the geisha's makeup, tradition dictates that it should be extremely careful, so much so that after painting her neck, nape and face white, the professional artist undertakes to meticulously draw her eyebrows, made in order to barely enhance the cut of the eyelid with a bit of black, to complete it all with a bit of red dye on the lips. Finally, enhancing what has been illustrated is surely also taken care of by Shimasa Mahe's typical hairstyle, aimed at leaving the face free of hair to form a kind of ponytail.
GEISHA (2022)Painting by Annie Briançon Marjollet.
Annie Briançon Marjollet: Geisha
Artmajeur artist Annie Briançon Marjollet's oil painting speaks to us, at first glance, of a mystery, namely that concerning the identity of an effigy of whom only a very close-up is known, aimed at reproducing the eye and right cheek of an oriental maiden. This question is resolved, however, in the very title of the work: Geisha, a term that immediately reveals to us the role, also confirming the gender, of the immortalized subject. Similarly to the above work, I want to proceed by revealing another "secret," concerning the ancient process by which it was possible to become a professional artist. In fact, it is important to make known how in ancient times, young girls, often following a path beyond their personal choice, entered the okiya, a place that was essentially a geisha house, where they began a long period of study to become geisha themselves. The agreement with the okiya often stipulated that the maidens would not have to incur any expenses for education, lodging or meals, as they would repay the debt incurred simply by working hard as entertainers. In any case, there were also alternative ways, which allowed aspiring geisha to maintain independence by purchasing their own kimono, to live separately from the okiya and pay only a registration fee in order to work at the latter. Another option for a geisha was to emancipate herself from the okiya after paying off her debts in full, and, at a later stage, find a wealthy patron who could provide her with financial support capable of enabling her to set up her own business.
GEISHA (2017)Photography by L'Individu.
L'Individu: Geisha
If the previous work reminded us of ancient times, the photographic medium of L'Individu brings us into modernity, fueling a curiosity in us: what does it mean to be a geisha today? In much the same way as in days gone by, today's professional performer lends herself to meet the demands of various clients, to entertain them over the course of an evening, during which she travels to the rendezvous sites, bringing along a number of apprentices, who, like the master, will make sure to serve drinks, converse, play music, sing, and sometimes fan dance. Similar forms of performance are evinced in the performace enacted by the protagonist of Geisha, who, in a shot with theatrical pathos, culminates in a partial nude equipped with a sharp sword and a highly combative gaze. After seeing this interpretation, another question then arises: how much would the effigy of L'Individu's photograph demand for her "enactment"? Here is the mystery revealed, for if the price for inviting a geisha to dinner today is between 30 thousand and 50 thousand yen, each time the latter dances, she must be thanked with an additional offering of about 20 thousand yen for each diner. The costliness of such company is determined by the continuity with the ancient tradition, according to which the course of study is very long to get to practice this profession, whose job opportunities remain, among other things, limited in time and compressive of expensive kimonos.
