Portrait of Ozora Buzaemon, 1827. Over seven feet tall, Ozora 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.

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Size: 3584px × 6542px
Photo credit: © Heritage Art/Heritage Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1615-1868, 1793-1841, art, cleveland, colour, edo, hanging, heritage, ink, japan, japanese, kazan, museum, painting, paper, period, scroll, watanabe