Scholten Japanese Art
Kitagawa Utamaro: A Golden Age Ukiyo-e Master
Kitagawa Utamaro: A Golden Age Ukiyo-e Master
Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)
The term ukiyo (lit. 'floating world') alludes to an older Buddhist concept regarding impermanence, but during the prosperity of the Edo period (1615-1868) it began to be used to refer to everyday pleasures. The fleeting nature of life became a justification to embrace decadent escapism and brazenly indulge in earthly amusements. Ukiyo-e, or, images of that floating world, depict a variety of leisure activities such as the kabuki theater, sumo wrestling, music, party games, famous restaurants, teahouses and the pleasure quarters.
This exhibition features works by the ukiyo-e master, Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806.) Arguably the leading painting and print artist of his time, he dominated the market for images of beautiful women (bijin-ga) in the 1790s and early 1800s—a period generally considered to be the highpoint of the era known as the ‘Golden Age of Ukiyo-e.’ Utamaro played an important role in elevating woodblock print production to new heights exploring portraits of beautiful women from all walks and stages of life.
Image Credit:
Kitagawa Utamaro, Morning Parting at the Temporary Lodgings of the Pleasure Quarters, ca. 1800
Few prints, if any, are more lovely than the silver ground half-length figures of Utamaro’s prime and in all but his very latest work the sense of spacing and composition, the suavity of line, give evidence of perfect mastery.
Louis V. Ledoux, Japanese Prints, Buncho to Utamaro in the Collection of Louis V. Ledoux, 1948
Detail of Kitagawa Utamaro, Painting the Eyebrows, ca. 1795-96
Scholten Japanese Art
Scholten Japanese Art
Utamaro began his career as a student of the traditional Kano school ink painter Toriyama Sekien (1712-1788). He signed his earliest known work with the go (art name) Sekiyo in 1770, and beginning in 1775, he designed a few actor prints using the go Kitagawa Toyoaki. In 1781 he began using the name Utamaro— making it official when he declared the name change at a banquet in 1782. Initially Utamaro designed actor prints in a style similar to the Katsukawa school, but during the 1780s he turned his attention to images of beautiful women showing influence from Kitao Masanobu (1761-1816) and Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815). In 1783 Utamaro moved in to live with the great publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo (1750-1797), who became Utamaro's principal collaborator until the publisher's death in 1797. Utamaro's style continued to evolve and by the 1790s he had become the leading artist of beautiful women and the floating world. In about 1792-1793, Tsutaya began publishing print series by Utamaro depicting half-length portraits of beauties with glittering full-mica backgrounds. These lavish images elevated print production to new heights, establishing Utamaro as the pre-eminent artist at the zenith of the golden age of ukiyo-e.
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