Kitagawa Utamaro (1753?-1806)
The exact year and place of Kitagawa Utamaro's birth are unknown. He first appeared in the art world under the name Kitagawa Toyoaki, but in 1782 was given the name Utamaro by a well-known publisher of ukiyoe productions, Tsutaya Juzaburo, who recognized the younger man's remarkable talents. Utamaro's joint productions with Tsutaya began as illustrations for woodblock-printed books, and he designed some of the most beautiful illustrated books in the history of ukiyoe, such as "Ehon mushi erami" (The Insect Book, 1788) and Ginsekai (Silver World, 1790). Developing his own distinctive styles of bijinga (portraits of beautiful women), he was particularly successful in publishing sets of bijinga featuring close-up portraits (so-called okubi-e). Starting with a series titled "Ten Physiognomic Types of Women" (in poses showing the whole upper part of the body) in 1791-1792, he brought ukiyoe art to a new peak around 1793 with a five-piece series titled "Kasen koi no bu" (Selected Poems on Love). This was followed by works titled "The North Country [a euphemism for the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters] in Five Colors" and "Portraits of Contemporary Women at the Height of their Beauty" (a series of 10 prints). Utamaro's close-up portraits of beautiful women minimized or omitted altogether background objects. He depicted what he considered to be ideal feminine beauty with a smooth line and a superb harmonization of colors. He became the greatest ukiyoe master of the biijinga genre.
