Kitagawa Utamaro
Master of ukiyo-e bijin portraits
Kitagawa Utamaro was a Japanese artist. He is one of the most highly regarded designers of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, and is best known for his bijin ōkubi-e "large-headed pictures of beautiful women" of the 1790s. He also produced nature studies, particularly illustrated books of insects. Little is known of Utamaro’s life. His work began to appear in the 1770s, and he rose to prominence in the early 1790s with his portraits of beauties with exaggerated, elongated features. He produced over 2000 known prints and was one of the few ukiyo-e artists to achieve fame throughout Japan in his lifetime. In 1804 he was arrested and manacled for fifty days for making illegal prints depicting the 16th-century military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and died two years later. Utamaro’s work reached Europe in the mid-nineteenth century, where it was very popular, enjoying particular acclaim in France. He influenced the European Impressionists, particularly with his use of partial views and his emphasis on light and shade, which they imitated. The reference to the "Japanese influence" among these artists often refers to the work of Utamaro.
Relationship Network
Master student
- Kitagawa Tsukimaro Student
Influenced
Artworks by this artist (90 total)
- Sankatsu Hanshichi no bosetsu – The maternal love of Sankatsu and Hanshichi 1793-1804
- Tsukasa of Ōgiya 1805
- Portrait of Beauty, Takigawa at Ôgi-ya late 18th century - ca. 1806
- Courtesan Hanamurasaki of Tamaya 1794
- Mimeguri no dote – The embankment at Mimeguri 1793-1804
- Courtesan Oriwae (small child looking in mirror at back) late 18th century - ca. 1806
- Hinakoto of Hyōgorō circa 1795
- Shinohara of the Tsuruya, kamuro Wakaba and Chieda circa 1805
- Oume, Kumenosuke – Oume and Kumenosuke 1793-1804
- Fishing with a Four-Armed Scoop-net (Yotsu Deami) (center component of triptych) late 18th century - ca. 1806
- Kuchi-beni – Painting the lips 1793-1804
- Yaoya Oshichi, Koshô Kichisaburô, Dozaemon Denkichi – Oshichi the greengrocer’s daughter, Kichisaburô the boy-servant and Dozaemon Denkichi 1793-1804
- Kiseru o motsu onna – Woman holding a pipe 1793-1804
- Scene in Yoshiwara late 18th century - ca. 1806
- Poet Sōjō Henjō early 1790s
- Woman Exhaling Smoke from a Pipe circa 1792-1793
- Towel (Tenuzui) late 18th century - ca. 1806
- Lesson on Hatred (Nikuburi) late 18th century - ca. 1806
- Mitate gosho-guruma – Parody of an imperial carriage scene 1793-1804
- Preparing Raw Fish circa 1798-1799