Touch

This is a drypoint transfer print, one of 2 of this exact image.  (Other prints using this image and more were made in a variable edition. )  The image comes from a photo used in one edition of the book Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.  The geisha is probably Mineko Iwasaki one of the most famous 20th Century geishas - renowned in Japan through the 1960s and 70s.  I find the stories of the gesihas fascinating as women highly educated and revered for their beauty and skill as musicians, dancers and performers and about whom we have so many misconceptions.  "They developed in the 17th century as a class of female performers completely separate from the courtesan class, meant purely for their beauty in art and life."  (Internet post - mrstein91).  No least part of the geisha's beauty, from an artist's point of view,  are the wonderful costumes - the gorgeous kimonos and obis, the intricate hair designs and makeup.