Roseland Cottage

Kuniyoshi Print

In the 1880s when the Bowens updated Roseland Cottage, the country was in thrall to all things Asian.  The Centennial Exposition in Philadlphia in 1876, seen by close to ten million visitors, included Japanese and Chinese exhibitions which proved enormously influential.  These prints by two Japanese master woodblock artists were exactly what Americans were collecting.  These were recently donated by a Bowen descendant who recalled them hanging in this room, where she slept when she visited  her Aunt Constance.  They may well have been part of the redecorating scheme of the 1880s.This print, of a geisha carrying a woven basket is by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1789-1861) one of Toyokuni’s most talented and successful students.