A Musume Tripping Down the Street, ca. 1890 by Robert Frederick Blum, NA (1857-1903), pen and ink on paper, 10″ x 7″, signed lower left.
Blum penned A Musume Tripping Down the Street, ca.1890 during his first year in Japan, demonstrating his quick and accurate artistic abilities. The piece, though loose in composition, reflects a careful appreciation of Japanese culture, given the attention to detail on the woman’s traditional garb. While being observed, the Musume returns a kind and calm look to Blum and, subsequently, each viewer of the piece. Preceding A Daughter of Japan by a full year, A Musume Tripping Down the Street appears to be a preliminary study of the Musume’s attire, attitude, and external perception.
Medium: Pen and ink on paper
Influenced by Japanese arts and crafts, Spanish masterpainters, and magazine illustrators, Blum pursued art from a young age and, though studying briefly at academies in Cincinnati and Philadelphia, was largely self taught. In 1879, Blum accompanied friend William Merrit Chase to Venice and became acquainted with James Abbott McNeil Whistler, bonding over their shared affinity for pastels. During this stay, Blum produced Venetian Lace Makers, a canvas that won him an associate membership in the National Academy of Design and an esteemed reputation in the art world.
In 1890, Blum received a commission from Scribner’s Magazine and was able to explore his childhood fascinations, travelling to and spending three years in Japan enveloped in its people and culture. In this time, he produced several pastel and ink sketches of Japanese scenes and subjects, one of which, A Daughter of Japan, became one of the earliest pieces of color printing in any American magazine. On his time in Japan, Blum fondly recalled it as being “the most glorious experience I have ever had”.
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