Geisha at her Toilet

Robert Blum was one of the first American artists to travel to Japan in 1890. He had visited the Japanese Pavilion at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876 and was also advised by James McNeill Whistler to look to Japanese design principles while in Venice with Whistler and William Merritt Chase from 1879-81. When Blum was able to visit Japan himself in the 1890s, he called it "the most glorious experience I have ever had" and created illustrations for Scribner's magazine based on his travels. As seen in the present work, Blum was an accomplished pastelist, serving as the president of the Society of Painters in Pastel in New York.