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)
- 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
- Souvenir Print from Ōtsu; Benkei with Weaponry and a Demon with a Samisen late 18th century
- Two Beauties with Bamboo circa 1795
- Two Women and Man Carrying Black Samisen Box late 18th century - ca. 1806
- Courtesan Shinowara of Tsuruya, kamuro Wakaba and Chieda circa 1804
- Jôbon no zu – Picture of the upper class 1793-1804
- Shira-uchikake – The white surcoat 1793-1804
- Portrait of Beauty, Takigawa at Ôgi-ya late 18th century - ca. 1806
- Shinshi-bari – Cloth-stretcher 1793-1804
- Tôji san bijin – Three beauties of the present day 1793-1804
- The Courtesan Ichikawa of the Matsuba Establishment 1796
- Woman Exhaling Smoke from a Pipe circa 1792-1793
- Kami-yui – Dressing the hair 1793-1804
- Kingyo – Goldfish 1793-1804
- Yaoya Oshichi, Koshô Kichisaburô, Dozaemon Denkichi – Oshichi the greengrocer’s daughter, Kichisaburô the boy-servant and Dozaemon Denkichi 1793-1804
- Courtesans of the Ōgiya Brothel on Display 1806
- Scene in Yoshiwara late 18th century - ca. 1806