Elegant Pleasures of the Four Seasons

c. 1782

Elegant Pleasures of the Four Seasons, c. 1782. Attributed to Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, 1753–1806). Woodblock print; ink and color on paper; sheet: 26.1 x 39.1 cm (10 1/4 x 15 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore 1930.196 The title of this print suggests a series of four, but only this wintry print is known. A boy has dropped his toy wrestlers as he is hoisted up to a woman who has been enjoying a book at the heated table. Her companion buries her head beneath the blanket to stay warm, her bare feet exposed by a girl tending the hot coals in the pit in the floor.