Portrait of the Author of Japanese Fairy Tales

[Portrait of British-Japanese Writer Yei Theodora Ozaki] [Mounted Photograph]

Maruki Riyo

Notes: A romantic-style head-and-shoulders portrait of the writer Yei Theodora Ozaki (1870–1932), well executed with light just falling on her profile, outlining her face against the dark background. Ozaki is wearing a white Victorian gown with frilly sleeves and a white rose corsage on the gown and in her hair. The portrait was probably executed shortly after 1889, when Maruki opened a studio in the Shiba district of Tokyo (the year before, he had been selected to photograph the Emperor, and his studio thrived thereafter). The photograph may date from about the time Ozaki became the secretary to the British Legation in Japan, in 1891.

Ozaki was the eldest daughter of Baron Saburo Ozaki, a Japanese noble who studied in England, and his British wife, Bathia Catherine Morrison. Yei Theodora grew up in both England and Japan, and traveled back and forth between Europe, Japan, and the United States for the rest of her life. She died in London.

Okaki adapted many traditional Japanese stories for a Western audience. Her best-known works are collections of Japanese folk and fairy tales, which remain in print today (Tuttle Publishing). She wrote several other books in English and often wrote for Western magazines about Japanese culture.

Portraits of Ozaki are scarce.

4-3/4 by 5-1/4 inch albumen print on a larger gray board, with the photographer's name, R. Maruki in script and "Atarashibashi Kado, Shiba Tokyo Japan" in Roman font, stamped in white in lower right corner. The same information is stamped in black in one line of Japanese characters on the back (verso) of the mount.

Edition + Condition: Small (1/4 inch) crack in the image along the right edge, affecting only the background. The mount is bumped at the corners, but is otherwise fine. The image contrast is excellent, with good tonal range. "Miss Ozaki" is written in pencil on the back of the mount.

Publication: Atarashibashi Kado, Shiba, Tokyo: R. Maruki, [ca. 1890].

Item No: #360829

Price: $500