Utamaro

Portraits from the Floating World

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Last edited by IdentifierBot
August 10, 2010 | History

Utamaro

Portraits from the Floating World

New Ed edition
  • 0 Ratings
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  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

Who was the man behind the pseudonym "Utamaro"? We know that he was one of the greatest artists of eighteenth-century Japan, and that he was a master portraitist of women in the woodblock-print tradition known as ukiyo-e. But as for the man himself, we know almost nothing. The little there is-gleaned from contemporary books, miscellaneous writings, temple registers-is brought together in this book to present as clear a picture of Utamaro's life as modem researchers are capable of. Utamaro is placed in his cultural setting-the pleasure-loving urban culture of eighteenth-century Tokyo, the shogun's capital and the de facto center of Japan

Utamaro's world was that of teahouse girls and courtesans whose fame and popularity can only be compared, in modern terms, to those of a movie actress whose name is on every man's lips. His was a world of popular literature and art, of publishers competing for the work of the most talked-about writers and artists. This world, however, was under the constant scrutiny of the authorities, and near the end of his career, Utamaro fell afoul of the government's proscription of certain subject matter, and he was sentenced to three days in prison and fifty days in hand chains.

But Utamaro's life is only one theme of this book. The other is the development of his art, the perfection of his depictions of women that enabled him to capture subtle moods and differences of character. The prints of women produced by the ukiyo-e artists preceding Utamaro showed expressionless beauties of little individuality. It was against this that Utamaro rebelled, creating such prints as that of the kashi, one of the lowest ranking of courtesans-in fact, a mere prostitute. Recognizing within himself the power to see and depict the individual behind the outward appearance, Utamaro added to some of his prints the notation "Studies in Physiognomic Judgment of Character by Utamaro." Modem opinion tends to agree with Utamaro's assessment of himself, and his reputation as an artist of the inner woman has firmly established him in the top ranks of the ukiyo-e world.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
96

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Utamaro
Utamaro: Portraits from the Floating World
February 12, 2001, Kodansha International
Paperback in English - New Ed edition
Cover of: Utamaro
Utamaro: Portraits from the Floating World (Great Japanese Art Series)
August 1993, Kodansha International (JPN)
Hardcover in English - Rev edition

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Book Details


First Sentence

"Utamaro created the new genre of bijin okubi-e, a genre that emphasized the facial features and expressions of his subjects rather than full-length figures, during the Kansei era (1789-1801)."

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
96
Dimensions
11.6 x 9 x 0.6 inches
Weight
1.4 pounds

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL9037400M
ISBN 10
4770027303
ISBN 13
9784770027306
Library Thing
332548
Goodreads
210895

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
August 10, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 24, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs.
April 16, 2010 Edited by bgimpertBot Added goodreads ID.
April 14, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Linked existing covers to the edition.
April 30, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from amazon.com record.