Kimono with Scattered Lines and Dots

1950s

Kimono with Scattered Lines and Dots, 1950s. Japan, Shōwa period (1926-89). Machine-spun pongee plain weave silk (meisen), with resist-dyed threads; overall: 149.2 x 126.4 cm (58 3/4 x 49 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Julia Meech 2020.84 Composed mainly of bright parallels and diagonals against a dark ground, the bold designs of this meisen kimono are distinctively modern. Meisen generally refers to a type of fabric produced in the Kantō region of Japan between the mid-1800s and mid-1900s. It was fashioned from a variety of materials, especially silk woven from imperfect fibers. This example was made in Chichibu. Kasuri is the Japanese term for ikat, which means forming patterns with pre-dyed threads.