I Guess We Have All Seen Photographic Booths At Fairs Or Similar,

where for a fee you can dress up and have your photograph taken in say Victorian, or cowboy/girl dress,

it is not a new practice, Horyu Goseda was a Japanese artist who lived from 1827 to 1892. He spent the majority of his career working in Yokohama, a port town distinguished by a strong presence of foreign sailors and western influence. Although he worked as a traditional artist, Goseda developed a side-hustle: painting portraits for foreigners dressed in traditional kimono,

above “Western Man Dressed in Japanese Clothing” by Horyu Goseda | courtesy Yokohama Museum of Art, according to professor and art historian Toshinobu Yasumura, Goseda likely came up with the idea after hearing about a similar trend in Hong Kong where foreigners would have portraits painted in traditional attire. Convinced there would be similar demand in Japan, Goseda began approaching sailors with his idea. And sure enough it was a hit,

“Western Woman Dressed in Japanese Clothing” by Horyu Goseda | courtesy Yokohama Museum of Art, and here is the neat bit, knowing that sailors had limited time he painted just kimonos, no faces, and when he received a photograph he would paint on the sailors head, many subjects never having sat for a painting in his studio!

foreign man and woman dressed in Kimono. Artist unknown, Goseda would often receive requests to paint their wives as well, Goseda obliged, working with photographs supplied by husbands, as it happens we watch so many antique shows and quizzes, but I have neve seen a painting of a foreigner in a kimono, I bet one will now appear in a antiques show in the next few days!