Surprise. This was my first impression when I saw the work.
She’s smiling, but the shadows cast on her white teeth are somewhat unsettling, and, while large black eyes tend to look cute and youthful, here, instead, they look too big and strange.
The work is painted mainly in shades of black and white over a silver-grey background and the notably intense red of her reversed collar remains within my mind.
However, as I looked more closely, my impression gradually changed. From each strand of hair to her pink skin below her hairline and areas where there is an absence of makeup, I was drawn further and further into the realistic aspects of the work. At first glance, I thought she appeared androgynous, but, when I saw the work in person, her small front teeth, fluffy eyebrows, round nose, and hollyhock-pattered kimono, hairpin, and such made her look rather cute.
Through its strong color scheme, the modern and bold aspects of the work seem to dominate its humanistic elements at a first glance but, looking closely, the realistic aspects of the work give it a sense of humanity, and, through this intimacy, I realized it was a painting of a young girl.

The artist, Kitano Tsunetomi is one of the key Japanese painters of the Osaka art world. He is also known for his extremely beautiful paintings of women, titled “Akuma-ha”. I wasn’t aware of this before, but it makes perfect sense.
He learned literati painting, rinpa, ukiyo-e, sashi-e and more, and was even influenced by Art Nouveau. Active during the unique Meiji and Taisho periods to the early Showa period, the Osaka-based artist’s bijinga are indeed unique. Even when compared to works of the same genre, Tsunetomi paints women very differently to artists such as Uemura Shoen and Kaburaki Kiyokata. Rather, his works present the inner lives of his subjects, so much so that it would almost be traumatic to view them as a child.
I’m glad I can enjoy this work now as an adult.

Mademoiselle Yulia
Mademoiselle Yulia rose to prominence as a DJ and singer in her teens. In recent years, she has grown widely active as a kimono stylist, model, columnist, awards judge, and has become the face of numerous global campaigns of widely known brands. Yulia graduated from Kyoto University of the Arts in 2020 and styled the visual campaign for the Victoria & Albert Museum’s exhibition, Kimono -Kyoto to Catwalk-.
https://yulia.tokyo/