Interpretation
Though Blum spent two and half years in Japan, he never visited China. Based on his many illustrations of Japanese street scenes for Scribner’s Magazine, Blum presents an idealized yet largely plausible pastiche. The figures’ clothing and the lanterns are generally accurate, while details like the women’s unbound feet and the indecipherable characters on the sign indicate that this scene was created from Blum’s imagination.
Information
- Title
- Chinese Street Scene
- Object Number
- x1943-308
- Medium
- Watercolor and gouache over graphite
- Dates
- after 1890
- Dimensions
- 22.8 x 15.3 cm (9 x 6 in.)
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase
- Culture
- American
- Signatures
- Signed in red watercolor, lower right: R. Blum
- Inscriptions
- in ink, on verso upper left:III in graphite, on verso upper right: IV
- Materials
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