Portrait of a Japanese Woman (Mrs. Kuroki)|Edmond-François Aman-Jean |Search Collection

Updated 10 June 2025

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Edmond-François Aman-Jean

Chevry-Cossigny, Seine-et-Marne, 1858 - Paris, 1936

Portrait of a Japanese Woman (Mrs. Kuroki)

Date	1922
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	185 x 62
Inscriptions	Signed and dated upper: Aman Jean / PARIS 1922
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	M8
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0005

Takeko Kuroki was the niece of Kojiro Matsukata whose art collection is showcased by our museum. Takeko lived in Paris while her husband Sanji Kuroki was researching international monetary conditions for Japan’s Ministry of Finance. Keen collectors, they became acquainted with painters and others in the art world. It was them who introduced Matsukata to Claude Monet at his studio in Giverny; the businessman would later purchase many pieces directly from the artist. Aman-Jean’s portrait of Takeko dressed in kimono shows the strong influence of contemporary Japonisme, also reflected in works by Monet. (Source: Gallery label, October 2016)

Provenance

Purchased by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Léonce Bénédite or by himself, ca. December 1921 (Fr. 15,000) [see letter from Léonce Bénédite to Suzuki & Co., dated 27 December 1921, as “Portrait de Mme Kuroki”, in the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, Paris (copy in NMWA curatorial file)]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.

Exhibition History

1989: The Old Matsukata Collection, Kobe City Museum, 14 September 1989 - 26 November 1989, cat. no. 50, col. repr.
1991: World Impressionism and Pleinairism, Matsuzakaya Art Museum, 21 March 1991 - 6 May 1991, Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, 14 May-16 June 1991; Hiroshima Museum of Art, 22 June-28 July 1991, cat. no. 47, col. repr.
2002: The Dream of a Museum: 120 Years of the Concept of the 'Bijutsukan' in Japan, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, 6 April 2002 - 23 June 2002, cat. no. 3-1-18, col. repr.
2013: Monet, An Eye for Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 December 2013 - 9 March 2014, p. 139, col. repr.
2014: The Rings from The Hashimoto Collection of The National Museum of Western Art, The National Museum of Western Art, 8 July 2014 - 15 September 2014, cat. no. 250
2015: Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 8 October 2015 - 21 February 2016, cat. no. 112, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 114, col. repr.

Bibliography

1961: Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-5.
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 5, repr.
1989: The Old Matsukata Collection (exh. cat.). Kobe City Museum, ed. [Kobe], "Matsukata Collection Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1989, pp. 41, 170, cat. no. 50, col. repr.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 10.
1991: World Impressionism and Pleinairism (exh. cat.). Kijima, Shunsuke; Morikawa, Koichiro; Tomita, Akira, eds. [Nagoya], Chunichi Shimbun, 1991, pp. 130-131, cat. no. 47, col. repr.
2002: The Dream of a Museum: 120 Years of the Concept of the 'Bijutsukan' in Japan (exh.cat.). Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, ed. [Kobe], Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art; Kobe Shimbun, 2002, pp. 125, 236, cat. no. 3-1-18, col. repr.
2006: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 102, col. repr.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 102, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 115, col. repr.
2014: The Rings: from the Hashimoto Collection of the National Museum of Western Art (exh. cat.). Iizuka, Takashi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2014, p. 218, cat. no. 250, col. repr.
2015: Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir (exh. cat.). Marks-Hanssen, Beate, ed. Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, 2015, pp. 183, 247, cat. no. 112, col. repr.
2018: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 8, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of the Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2019, pp. 199, 205, 273, 368, cat. no. 114, col. repr.

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