Ghost

…by the famous artist Shibata Zeshin

Ghost by the Japanese artist Shibata Zeshin (1808-1891), depicts a young woman come back to earth to haunt someone, perhaps a former lover. Appearing with disheveled hair and no feet is a characteristic of Japanese artistic representations of ghosts. Zeshin adapts the style further by making the woman appear as if rising from smoke.

This hanging scroll painted with ink and silver on silk is believed to be one of four ghost paintings by Zeshin. It was originally exhibited a few years before his death and remained hidden for over 100 years before being rediscovered and donated to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.