Danshi Boys As Dolls And Deities In The Art Of Ryoko Kimura

Ryoko Kimura (b. 1971) is a Japanese artist who focuses on beautiful young boys in her nihonga-style paintings. Nihonga pictures follow Japanese fine art traditions. As the art historian Yuji Yamashita says, Kimura's works "would easily pass as Kano school paintings from the Muromachi period (1336-1573)." Interestingly, while searching for info on the subject, we stumbled across several images on a small blog devoted to homoerotic art. Yet Kimura is a female artist whose works don't involve gay aesthetics in a straight sense of the word (the pun is unintended) since Kimura depicts "idols." 

Fig. 1. Boys be! - The Boys Festival, 2006 (ryokokimura.com)

Fig. 2. King of Beauty, 2006 (ryokokimura.com)

Fig. 3. Training Boys, 2011 (ryokokimura.com)

Fig. 4. Training Boys, 2011 (ryokokimura.com)

Fig. 5. Beauty of My Dish series, Aperitifs 1, A man's body dish for Sashimi under the cherry blossom, 2005 (ryokokimura.com)

Bijinga Painted By Female

Ryoko Kimura graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where she studied oil painting, in 1995. Two years later, the artist received her Master's Degree at the same institution. Her first solo exhibition took place at the Moris Gallery, Tokyo, in 1997. According to her personal website, Kimura's works are collected by the Spencer Museum of Art and the Honolulu Museum of Art, USA. The organizers of the group exhibition FEMINISMS define her art as following the genre of bijinga. In accordance with her own artistic interest, Kimura changed the subject, thus, she "observes the male figure from the "sexual gaze from a heterosexual female standpoint" (wikipedia.org). Let's also mention her adherence to the traditional form of folding screens, which, together with the nihonga manner, makes us think of such prominent masters as Matazō Kayama. 

Fig. 6. Reclining Buddha in the Lotus Pond, 2019 (ryokokimura.com)

Fig. 7. Prince from the Story of the Little Merman (ryokokimura.com)

Fig.8.

Fig. 9. tagboat.com

Fig. 10. Asian Essence – Chrysanthemum, 2009 (ryokokimura.com)

Fig. 11. Asian Essence – Peony, 2009 (ryokokimura.com)

Fig. 12. Buddha (speaker-stack.com)

In the Premium edition more about Kimura's artistic goals, her attraction to passive eroticism, appeal to young boys, and many more images.

Click HERE for the pictures of beauties in the art of Yoga painter Sosuke Morimoto

Sources: Wikipedia.org; Yamashita, Yuji. "Perverted or perfectly Normal? Ryoko Kimura's take on “danshi” (ryokokimura.com)