[Sharaku is Hokusai] 1 Geometrical technique for drawing a face by Sharaku

         　　Old man's face by Hokusai and face part of [Miyakoza] by Sharaku
This is the illustration from the previous blog [Who is Sharaku?].
Both faces are made of arcs of limited number of circles.
(I call this method scaling technique.)
After finishing a series of [Who is Sharaku?]
I started the analysis of Picasso work in 1932.[Picasso's geometrical spirit in 1932 invented syntactical deice]
I found out that his most refined level of technique is expressed as circle-cross model.
Arc is atom of art.
The arcs in artwork can be extended to circles.
The circles can be balanced as unit of the circle, the horizontal and vertical diameters.

The face of [Miyakoza] looks to be designed minutely, which reminds me of old men in [Hokusai Manga].
So I made the circle-cross model of both faces.

                  the detail of [Miyakoza] by Sharaku  circle-cross model

                  old man from [Hokusai Manga] by Hokusai manga
There are some technical similarities.
A) use of scale:
    [Miyakoza] 10 circles, [Manga] 9 circles
B) larger units make the basic structure.
C) the straight lines longer than the diameters show lining of units which have the effect of balance.
D) most of the rippling wrinkles are made of the same sized circles which are bundled at a point.

With these similarities it is hard to say that Sharaku is not Hokusai.

Masterpiece always has ingenious geometrical structure [Mikaeri Bijin] by Moronobu

The basic structure of architecture  is hidden.
The structure of ornament is visible.
 Painting has both the basic and surface structure.
Only the contour is seen but the hidden basic structure is effective.

[Mikaeri Bijin] by Moronobu is well known as masterpiece in Japan without convincing critical explanation.
Words are not suitable for art theory.
I devised a model.

                                  Moronobu [Mikaeri Bijin  zu] circle-cross model

The outline of the picture is made of a chain of limited number of curves.
The bents of the curves looks to be deliberately chosen.
To confirm, I made the circle-cross model (units of a circle , the horizontal and vertical diameters).

The larger seven units ( blue, pink, red ocher, green, purple) make the basic structure.
The details can be seen better in the enlarged version.
I could not draw the details with arcs only because the digital image is not clear enough.
I own a reproduction with better resolution.

           Moronobu [Mikaeri bijin no zu] enlarged circle-cross model

On the top horizontal line the three units are placed.
The largest dark green unit makes three lines of the left sleeves.
One of the second largest blue units makes lower part of kimono knot
and another blue unit makes the side of the hair.

The blue units are the main components of of the upper body.
The third largest pink circles make the lower part of the kimono.
The fourth largest brown circles are used for details.
The green arcs are used most dynamically.
The purple circles are used all over from the back head to the hem of the kimono.

I made the overlapped diameters thicker to show the relation of the units.

                                 Moronobu [Mikaeri bijin no zu]
It is obvious that the overlapped diameters make the structure balanced well.

Moronobu drew pictures of more than hundred picture books.
He did not have to start from drawing real kimono figures.
He could see hundreds of traditional drawings as samples .
Drawn kimono figures are very linear curved shapes unlike real kimono.
Until the end of his career
his technique reached the highest level which I call the seventh level of ornamentation.
In the blog [Who was Sharaku?]
I have written that Hokusai possibly mastered Soutatu's method of circle-stencil method to invent Sharaku .
The another possibility is that Hokusai studied early Ukiyo-E paintings by Moronobu or Kiyonobu for Sharaku style.