Woman Looking at the Moon
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Woman Looking at the Moon” now? Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Cleveland, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
In this scene, a woman pauses in her task of fulling cloth (pleating or gathering cloth to make it full) to gaze at the moon just as a flock of geese pass over. Perhaps overcome by the moment, she bites the end of her kerchief. The simple elements of fulling blocks, geese, and a full moon are traditional symbols of autumn in Japanese art. The pounding of the silk also has erotic connotations in East Asian painting.
Although it is not signed, the style resembles work by painter Teisai Hokuba, known for his ukiyo-e or “pictures of the floating world.” Hokuba was an eminent disciple of the famed artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849).
Read on
The woman's white face appears to reflect the moon's surface. In Japan, the autumn harvest moon has many romantic associations and is a popular subject of poetry. In mid-autumn a Moon-Viewing Festival is held on the fifteenth night of the eighth lunar moon, which is regarded as the Harvest Moon. This festival became popular during the Edo period, when the citizens of the city of Edo enjoyed a festival in honor of the moon held on the banks of the Sumida River.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Details
- Accession number
- 1985.260
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
