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Kitagawa Utamaro, the Master of Ukiyo-e and his Pioneering Portraits of Edo
Utamaro, a prominent Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, is renowned for his exquisite woodblock prints. His masterful portrayal of bijin-ga, or images of beautiful women, captures the essence of the Floating World with unparalleled elegance.
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Utamaro – Pictures of the floating world
The coloured prints of Utamaro are, as Edmond de Goncourt wrote, a “miracle of art” in which he brought these impressions to an absolute and unsurpassable degree of perfection. The influence of Utamaro, Hiroshige and other masters of Ukiyo-e* revolutionised the sense of colour in the world of art.
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The Art of Utamaro
The text below is the excerpt from the book Utamaro (ASIN: B016XN18LC), written by Edmond de Goncourt, published by Parkstone International. To leaf through albums of Japanese prints is truly to experience a new awakening, during which one is struck in particular by the splendour of Utamaro. His sumptuous plates seize the imagination through his love of women, whom he wraps so voluptuously in grand Japanese fabrics, in folds, contours, cascades and colours so finely chosen that the heart grows faint looking at them, imagining what exquisite thrills they represented for the artist. For women’s clothing reveals a nation’s concept of love, and this love itself is but a form of lofty thought crystallised…
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Shunga: Traditional Japanese Pornography
Manga? Yes Anime? Yes Shunga? Ummmm… That’s one that not many people have heard of. Literally translated as “picture of spring”, it is an age-old Japanese erotic art form usually printed on woodblock. A sub genre of ukiyo-e, Shunga (春画) reached its pinnacle in the Edo Period from 1603 to 1867 and survived repeated government attempts at suppression. However, before they were shunned their widespread use and availability was commonplace and endeavoured to depict everyday life in the Edo. Carried around as lucky charms by Samurais and merchants as well as being offered to newly-wed’s as a type of sex education; shunga was accepted and used by everyone, regardless of…
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