Portrait of Ōzora Buzaemon

Description

Over seven feet tall, Ōzora Buzaemon became a tabloid sensation when he arrived in Edo (Tokyo) in 1827 . His handprints were cherished souvenirs, and his image was sold on woodblock prints. As inscriptions on the scroll detail, Watanabe Kazan met Buzaemon at the residence of a noted Confucian scholar. Using a camera obscura–type device—a tool that uses light to project an image onto a surface—he made this preliminary drawing for a painting. The portrayal depicts Buzaemon’s discomfort in being stared at.

Provenance

(Mayuyama and Company, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1980); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1980–)

Portrait of Ōzora Buzaemon

Watanabe Kazan

1827

Accession Number

1980.177

Medium

hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Dimensions

Image: 221.8 x 117.8 cm (87 5/16 x 46 3/8 in.); Overall: 256.8 x 131 cm (101 1/8 x 51 9/16 in.); with knobs: 256.8 x 140.5 cm (101 1/8 x 55 5/16 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund