川ぞいの道を、三人の女性が歩いています。強い風が吹いて、着物のすそやそでがはためき、左の女性は頭の手ぬぐいをおさえ、中央の女性はうちわを頭の上にかざしています。右では柳の枝が大きくなびき、川には帆かけ舟。描いたのは、すらりとした美人画で知られる浮世絵師・鳥居清長です。版画ではなく、絹に筆で直接描いた一点ものの絵です。

Three women walk along a path by a river. A strong wind makes their kimono hems and sleeves flap. The woman on the left holds down the cloth on her head, while the woman in the center raises a fan above her head. On the right, a willow tree bends in the wind, and sailboats float on the river. The artist is Torii Kiyonaga, famous for tall, slender beauties. This is not a print but a one-of-a-kind painting, brushed directly onto silk.

清長は1780年代、背が高くのびやかな女性たちを、実際の江戸の風景の中に描いて大人気になりました。その美人像は、のちの喜多川歌麿にも影響をあたえたと言われます。清長は歌舞伎の看板などを手がける鳥居派の四代目を継いだあと、版画の仕事を減らしていきました。この掛け軸は、晩年の19世紀初めごろの作品とされます。

In the 1780s, Kiyonaga became very popular for painting tall, graceful women in recognizable Edo settings. His ideal of female beauty is said to have influenced Kitagawa Utamaro. Later, Kiyonaga became the fourth head of the Torii school, known for kabuki signboards, and he made fewer prints. This hanging scroll is thought to be from his late years, in the early 19th century.

風に吹かれる一瞬の動きを、細やかな筆づかいでいきいきととらえています。着物の模様や柳の葉の一枚一枚まで、ていねいに描きこまれています。まわりの金色の模様の布は、掛け軸に仕立てるための表具です。1936年にメトロポリタン美術館に入り、今もニューヨークで大切にされています。

The fine brushwork captures a single moment of movement in the wind. Even the kimono patterns and each willow leaf are painted with care. The gold-patterned cloth around the picture is the mounting that turns it into a hanging scroll. The painting entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1936 and is still kept in New York today.