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Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese: 喜多川 歌麿) (ca.
1753 -
1806) (the name has occasionally been rendered as Outamaro,
but that usage is archaic) was a
Japanese printmaker and painter, and is considered one of the greatest
artists of
ukiyo-e. He is known especially for his masterfully composed studies
of women, known as
bijin-ga, although he also produced nature studies, particularly
illustrated books of insects.
His work reached
Europe in the mid
19th century, where it was very popular, enjoying particular acclaim
in
France. He influenced the European
Impressionists, particularly with his use of partial views, with an
emphasis on light and shade.
Biography
Biographical details for Utamaro are extremely limited, and each
reference one consults on him gives an substantially different account.
Various accounts claim that was born in either
Edo,
Kyoto,
Osaka (the three main cities of Japan), or a provincial town (no one
is sure exactly which one) in around
1753; the exact date is also uncertain. Another long-standing
tradition has is that he was born in the
Yoshiwara, the courtesan district of Edo, the son of a tea-house
owner, but there is no evidence of this. His original name was Kitagawa
Ichitaro.
It is generally agreed that he became a pupil of the painter
Toriyama Sekien while he was still a child, and there are many
authorities who believe that Utamaro was his son as well. He lived in
Sekien's house while he was growing up, and the relationship continued
until Sekien's death in
1788.
Sekien was originally trained in the aristocratic
Kano school of painting, but in middle age he started to lean toward
the popular (or ukiyo-e) school. Sekien is known to have had a number of
other pupils, none of any distinction.
Utamaro, in common with most Japanese, changed his name as he became
mature, and took the name Ichitaro Yusuke as he became older. He
apparently also married, although little is known about his wife, and he
apparently had no children.
His first major professional artistic work, at about the age of 22, in
1775, seems to have been the cover for a
Kabuki playbook, under the go (art-name)
of Toyoaki. He then produced a number of actor and warrior prints, along
with theatre programmes, and other such material. From the spring of
1781, he switched his go to Utamaro, and started painting and
designing fairly forgettable woodblock prints of women.
At some point in the middle
1780s, probably
1783, he went to live with the young rising publisher
Tsutaya Juzaburo, with whom he apparently lived for about 5 years. He
seems to have become a principal artist for the Tsutaya concern. His
output of prints for the next few years was sporadic, as he produced
mostly illustrations for books of kyoka (literally 'crazy verse',
a parody of the classical waka form). He seems to have produced nothing at
all that has survived in the period 1790-1792.
In about
1791 Utamaro gave up designing prints for books and concentrated on
making half-length single portraits of women rather than prints of women
in groups, as favoured by other ukiyo-e artists. It was in
1793 that he really achieved success as an artist, and at this point
his semi-exclusive arrangement with the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo was
broken. He then went on to produce a number of very famous series, all
featuring women of the Yoshiwara district.
Over the years, he also occupied himself with a number of volumes of
nature studies and shunga. In
1797, Tsutaya Juzaburo died, and Utamaro apparently was very upset by
the loss of his long-time friend and supporter. Some commentators feel
that his work after this never reached the heights it did before.
In
1804, at the height of his success, he ran into legal trouble by
publishing prints related to a banned historical novel. The prints.
entitled Hideyoshi and his 5 Concubines, depicted the military
ruler
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's wife and concubines; Consequently, he was accused
of insulting Hideyoshi's dignity. He was sentenced to be handcuffed for 50
days (some accounts say he was briefly imprisoned). According to some
sources, the experience crushed him emotionally and ended his career as an
artist.
He died two years later, on the 20th day of the 9th month, 1806, aged
about fifty-three, in Edo.
Pupils
After Utamaro's death, his pupil Koikawa Shuncho continued to produce
prints in his mentor's style, and took over the go Utamaro until
1820; these are now referred to as the work of "Utamaro II". After
1820 he changed his go to Kitagawa Tetsugoro, and produced
his subsequent work under that name.
Retrospective Observations
Utamaro produced over two thousand prints during his working career,
along with a number of paintings, surimono, many illustrated books,
including over thirty shunga books and albums, etc.
Among his best known works are the series Ten Studies in Female
Physiognomy; A Collection of Reigning Beauties; Great
Love Themes of Classical Poetry (sometimes called Women in Love
containing individual prints such as Revealed Love and
Pensive Love); and Twelve Hours in the Pleasure Quarters.
He alone, of his contemporary ukiyo-e artists, achieved a national
reputation during his lifetime. His sensuous female beauties are generally
considered the finest and most evocative bijin-ga in all of ukiyo-e. He
succeeded in capturing subtle aspects of personality, and transient moods,
of women of all classes, ages, and circumstances. His reputation has
remained undiminished since; his work is known worldwide, and he is
generally regarded as one of the half-dozen greatest ukiyo-e artists of
all time.
Print Series
Here is a partial list of his print series, with dates:
- Chosen Poems (1791-1792)
- Ten Types of Women's Physiognomies (1792-1793)
- Famous Beauties of Edo (1792-1793)
- Ten Learned Studies of Women (1792-1793)
- Anthology of Poems: The Love Section (1793-1794)
- Snow, Moon and Flowers of the Green Houses (1793-1795)
- Array of Supreme Beauties of the Present Day (1794)
- Twelve Hours of the Green Houses (1794-1795)
- Flourishing Beauties of the Present Day (1795-1797)
- An Array of Passionate Lovers (1797-1798)
- Ten Forms of Feminine Physiognomy (1802)
Further Reading
- Shugo Asano, Timothy Clark, The Passionate Art of Kitagawa
Utamaro (British Museum Press, London, 1995) is now the definitive
work on him in English
- Jack Hillier, Utamaro: Color Prints and Paintings (Phaidon,
London, 1961)
- Tadashi Kobayashi, (translated Mark A. Harbison), Great Japanese
Art: Utamaro (Kodansha, Tokyo, 1982)
- Muneshige Narazaki, Sadao Kikuchi, (translated John Bester),
Masterworks of Ukiyo-E: Utamaro (Kodansha, Tokyo, 1968)
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