Utamaro Revealed

Book excerpt: Kitagawa Utamaro is one of the most well-known figures in the history of Japanese art, renowned for his portraits of beautiful women. He is recognised as having been the leading light of the Ukiyo-e School during its golden age, and his influence upon the work of Western artists has been beyond measure. He produced in the region of 2,000 woodblock prints, approximately one third of which take their subjects from the licensed pleasure quarter of Edo, with the remainder being made up of images of popular beauties, pairs of famous lovers, historical and mythical figures, domestic scenes, and the physiognomic studies for which he is best-known. With 90 reproductions of the artist s prints, designs grouped and discussed according to subject, and with illustrations of publishers marks, artist s signatures, and the names of figures commonly inscribed upon his works, this reference guide provides the most comprehensive resource for identifying the subjects portrayed in Utamaro s prints to date."