Carp Banners in Kyoto

Louis Dumoulin (French, 1860–1924)

1888

Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas

Dimensions46 x 54.3 cm (18 1/8 x 21 3/8 in.)

Credit LineFanny P. Mason Fund in memory of Alice Thevin

Accession number1986.582

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

Louis Dumoulin’s Carp Banners is one of a series of paintings inspired by the artist’s trips to Asia in 1888 and 1889. The composition is loosely based on a photograph taken by an Italian photographer, Adolfo Farsari, who produced hand-colored photographs for the western tourist trade. He photographed this site in Yokohama about 1886. His photograph did not include the vivid carp banners, which were traditionally flown in celebration of male children. Dumoulin added the banners to his version of the scene, transforming it into a personal vision of the Japanese site—an amalgam of artistic sources, personal memory, and imagination.

Inscriptionssigned and dated lower right: Kyoto-Louis Dumoulin 1888

Provenance1986, Wheelock Whitney and Co., New York; 1986, sold by Wheelock Whitney and Co. to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 26, 1986)