About This Print

Note: Transcription of poem taken from http://www.j-texts.com/taisho/hananoah.html

春の夜に一人歩むと恋ざめの二人 歩むといづれ悲しき 『いづこへ』と人にきかれてさりげな く『あてなき旅』と笑みて答へぬ    キユラソウの瓶を抱へてたほれた る男の眉に日は暮れのこる

乳色に草の線あるネルを着て君は 来ましぬ岡の径より  春草や君がもの編むそばに寝てお もふことなし雲を見るかな  眼のかぎり菜の花さいて蝶まひて 風すこしある山城の国

夢二画集　花の巻  竹久夢二  明43年／洛陽社　夢二彩色木版口絵5図　4版

The year 1909 might have been a challenging time for Yumeji personally, but it coincided with a turning point in his artistic career.  Concurrent with his production of illustrations for socialist publications, Yumeji’s increasingly popular ‘Yumeji-style beauties’ resulted in the release of his first volume of illustrations and short poems, Spring (Haru no maki), in The Yumeji collection of work (Yumeji gashū).  Spring was a compilation of the artist’s magazines and newspaper illustrations, for which he collected the woodblocks of previously issued prints from publishers and reused them.  This approach was unusual and particularly so since woodblocks for ‘fast-cycle’ publications were often discarded or reused after their initial carving.  Spring was an immediate hit and a year later, on 10 January 1910, Yumeji notes in his diary: ‘Yumeji gashū one thousand copies sold out’.  It was so popular that by the time it went through nine prints, it is estimated that 9,000 copies of Spring had been sold.  The success of this collection led to the publication of further volumes in 1910: Summer (Natsu no maki), Flower (Hana no maki), Travel, (Tabi no maki), Autumn (Aki no maki) and Winter (Fuyu no maki).  The volumes of Yumeji gashū established Yumeji’s reputation as an artist; he even became something of a celebrity.  His ‘Yumeji-style beauties’ possessed an allure that extended beyond their existence as artworks, becoming in effect a social phenomenon inspiring women to seek out a ‘Yumeji-style’ look, be it in demeanor, fashion or by consuming goods designed by the artist.

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