Kitagawa Utamaro
(1753-1806)
The Lovers Oume and Kumenosuke, 1930s
A Mother Seated and Reading a Letter
While Her Daughter Combs Her Hair, 1930
Kitagawa Utamaro was the son and pupil of Toriyama Sekiyen; one of the leading artists of ukiyo-e. He himself had several pupils and even more imitators and forgers of his name; amongst the latter were Toyokuni and more particularly Yeizan.
Utamaro in common with other Japanese of the time, changed his name as he became mature, and also took the name Ichitaro Yusuke as he became older. He married, although little is known about his wife, and he apparently had no children.
Woman Nursing Infant, late 18th century
Around 1783, he became a principal artist for the Tsutaya firm although 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.
Eventually Utamaro gave up designing prints for books and concentrated on making half-length bijin-ga, single portraits of women, rather than the prints of women in groups favoured by other ukiyo-e artists. It was through this work that he achieved recognition as an artist. He produced a number of very famous series, all featuring women of the Yoshiwara district.
In 1775 he created his first major professional artistic work, the cover for a Kabuki playbook, under the go of Toyoaki. He then produced a number of actor and warrior prints, along with theatre programs, and other such material. From the spring of 1781, he began to paint and design unremarkable woodblock prints of women.
Two Women With Infant, late 18th century
He produced a number of very famous series, all featuring women of the Yoshiwara district. He also produced a number of volumes of nature studies and shunga, or erotica. He was skilled at capturing subtle aspects of personality, and transient moods, using as subjects women of all classes, ages, and circumstances. Utamaro produced over two thousand prints and a number of paintings during his life
In 1804, at the height of his success, he ran into legal trouble by publishing prints related to a banned historical novel, which led to imprisonment for a time. This ended his career as an artist and he died two years later.