Geisha Playing a Shamisen

Souvenir masks from Japan

A gate to a shrine in Japan shot from underneath 
to feature the ornamented decor.

The inspiration for this drawing came from my trip with my husband Alex to Japan, in the winter of 2011, where we saw several geisha in a busy street in Kyoto.  A tourist crowd formed around them as if they were celebrities, and cameras went clicking away.  Being affected by the book: Memoirs of a Geisha, I had so many images of Gion (the most exclusive and well known geisha district in Japan) already in my mind.  I couldn't wait to see the old city streets, buildings, and shrines.  Having just gone to the Tokyo museum, and learning so much about Japan's history and the relationship of the old capital of Kyoto to the new capital of Tokyo, I was eagerly awaiting the train trip to Kyoto.  I was taken back by the history and culture of Japan's old capital, and wished we could have stayed there longer then a weekend.  I bought a souvenir doll and drew it, to take something even more personal away from that unforgettable adventure.  Bellow, are some photographs from our trip, which inspired me to create this drawing, followed by the evolution of the stages of the drawing. 

Geisha Playing a Shamisen ~ charcoal pencils

The 4 photos bellow were taken in Kyoto, Japan.  

We did a walking tour of the city, and it was one of the highlights of our trip.

 

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I took these 2 sculpture photos bellow 

at the lobby of a restaurant at the top of the Tokyo Museum, 

where we overlooked the city on a cloudy day.

 

Four wooden fortunes sold outside the Meiji Jingu, a Shinto shrine in Tokyo. Shinto: The indigenous religion of Japan, devoted to deities of natural forces and glorifying of the emperor as a descendant  of the sun goddess.

Evolution of Geisha Playing a Shamisen:

 Doll used as a model for my drawing.

Stage 1

Stage 2

 Completed drawing

At a recent visit to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, I revisited a kimono display made of cast glass, entitled Ojigi, by American artist, Karen LaMonte.  I revisit this display with each return to the museum.  Time after time, it captivates me, drawing me to its mystical presence.  The ethereal way in which the glass captures the light, causes me to sense both past and future.  Because the figure was made of glass, and not marble or brass, it possesses the ability to capture light, causing a timeless appeal.  Coming back to this display has given me a recapitulation, a return, with a new perspective, and a closure to my whole Japanese travel experience, and charcoal drawing of Geisha Playing a Shamisen.