Flying Celestial

Kiyohara Yukinobu painted this image of a “Flying Celestial” using ink and color on silk in 17th century Japan. She was a rare female artist in the male-dominated world of painting at the time. It depicts a celestial being, perhaps an angel or a Buddhist deity, floating on clouds and trailing flowing robes. It is likely that Yukinobu was a product of the Kano school, the dominant art institution in Japan at the time, as this style would have been promoted as the status quo in painting. However, as a woman, her position in the school would have been different from that of her male counterparts. Despite the limitations placed on her because of her gender, Yukinobu became a successful artist in her own right. We might consider her work as a form of self-assertion within the patriarchal society of Edo-period Japan. To understand this work more fully, scholars consult historical records, biographies, and other cultural artifacts, to help us consider the art within its original context.